Hiking the juniper trail in Logan - Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Wednesday - June 28th

Roger and I went hiking today.  I didn't have to work and we decided that we would try to go on a hike in all of my days off. It was so nice to have the day off. I slept in until 9:30am. I can't remember there last time I got to sleep in that late. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep in, since my body is used to waking up early. I woke up when Roger got home, but I managed to fall right back asleep. It felt so good. Then I woke up and laid around for 2 hours before doing anything. 

I needed to help Brinley clean and organize her room today. We got half way through, before I woke Roger up to go hiking. We had to stop at Pet Smart to buy a new crate for Forest. The travel crate we have now is too small. It was really hard to get him into it. Now he has a big one that he seems to love. We also bought a harness for Forest to help him stop pulling when we walk him. We tried it on him in the store and it helped immediately. It was so nice. I was so embarrassed when I was bringing him into the store because he was pulling so hard he was practically dragging me. It was a much different and nicer experience taking him out of the store.

The hike we went on was really nice. There was a stream next to the trail. Forest was nervous to get in the water at first, but before we knew it that was all Forest wanted to do. He kept trying too get over to the steam. At one point the water was really close to the trail and we crossed through water. Forest was so excited, he pounced into the water and started splashing around. It was so cute and funny. I tried to get a video of it, but the camera took forever to turn on. I missed it.

Roger and I have to decide what vacation to do this year. We wanted to do 2 trips, but realized that with Roger's new schedule, we can't. He won't have enough vacation time. So I talked to my sisters tonight to try and figure it out. I think we might end up doing the fall Disneyland trip. But that means I won't get to go to Montana. I don't like that idea too much.

Heather invited me to watch a movie at her house tonight. It was a depressing movie. We didn't have time to finish watching it though, since I had to come home to go to bed, since I have to work in the morning.

Alissa has Torticollis - January 11, 2017

Wednesday - January 11th

Alissa and I woke up early this morning, like always because it's a school day.  Parker managed to wake up early also.  We were relaxing in the living room.  Parker and I were sitting by the fire and Alissa was bundled up in a blanket on the couch.  She had her head leaning against the wall while she watched a show on her phone.  She said that it felt like her neck needed to pop all of the sudden.  She hates when her neck pops because it feels extra scary for her.  It makes one side of her face go numb for a little bit and she feels like she is going to pass out.  She had told me about how that happens before, and it scares me a lot, but I never knew what to do about it.  Anyway, she was scared that it was going to pop, so she sat up and moved hoping to stop it.  She said when she sat up there was a little pop and her neck started to hurt really bad.  She bent her head to one side and the pain wasn't as bad, but when she tried to bend it the other way, the pain was horrible.  She started to cry and was totally freaked out.  She had to keep her head bent to one side.  She managed to calm down and tried watching a video to get her mind off of it.  I called Linda (my 'ask a nurse' sister).  I told her what was happening and she suggested that we take Alissa to the doctor as soon as possible.  I called and made an appointment.  They couldn't get us in until 11:30am, so Alissa had a couple more hours that she had to suffer through.  She managed to get in a good position where the pain wasn't has horrible and she fell asleep until it was time to go.

She was so worried we would hit a bump or something on the drive there.  She was in a lot of pain and couldn't bear the thought of the pain she'd experience if we went over any big bumps.  The roads ended up being really bad.  We have been having the craziest weather lately.  This morning we woke up to 4 more inches of rain.  The rest of the day it snowed and slushed (what I call snow that is almost rain) on and off all day.  The freeway really took a beating from all this crazy weather.  There were a ton of pot holes all over the road.  It was kind of scary.  I think Heavenly Father must have really been helping me, because I managed to avoid hitting all of them.  On the way back after she was on medicine and not in such horrible pain, I wasn't as good at missing the potholes.

The doctor checked her out and asked her a lot of questions.  She asked her to try and put her head up straight.  Alissa moved it as far as she could with out the excruciating pain.  Then the doctor asked her if she could move it further than that.  Alissa told her, "I probably could, but it will make me cry."  So, the doctor told her not to do it.  Alissa is scheduled to go in for an MRI of her neck on Monday.  The doctor seemed to also be concerned when we told her how it feels when Alissa's neck pops.  I'm glad she will be getting things looked at and I'm glad she has some medicine so it doesn't hurt as bad.  She has 3 different pain meds that she is taking.  She said they don't get rid of the pain completely, but it hurts a lot less and she can put her head up straight.

After Alissa's appointment, we went to Walmart to get all her medicine, then we chilled in the truck while we waited for it to be time for my doctors appointment.  I had made an appointment with Dr. Wilding to ask him about my knees, my thyroid, and my weight loss goals.  I wanted to know what I could do for my knees.  I told them that they don't hurt right now, but whenever I try and start jogging again, I have to stop, because my knees hurt so bad.  I have to take it easy for a while until they recover.  I was really hoping that he would suggest some kind of knee brace or something to help, so I could run without the pain, but that didn't happen.  I asked him what I could do and he simply said, "Don't jog."  He told me to walk and use other exercise equipment until I lose the weight, then I can try jogging again.  He said it is too hard on my knees when I weigh this much.  It made me laugh when I talked to him, because it was such an obvious answer that I hadn't even considered before I talked to him.  I have been telling myself that the way I would lose weight is to start jogging again.  I'm really glad I got that gym membership so I have more ways to get in shape and lose the weight.  Doctor Wilding said it wasn't time to check my thyroid yet, so I didn't need to worry about that, and he prescribed me some Phentermine to help with my weight loss.  We had a good laugh about that also.  He asked if I had tried it before.  I said I had in 2006.  I didn't use it for very long but I like it.  He laughed when I said I liked it, because he was telling me it can be an addictive medicine, so he was checking to see if I would have a problem with it.  I don't know how to explain the whole conversation, but we had a good laugh about it and Alissa told him I do have an addictive personality.  He prescribed the medicine for one month.  I will go back and see him in a month, so he can see if it's working and if I want to keep going with it.

Another nice thing about that appointment was, when I went to pay, they said I had a credit on my account.  Doctor Wilding used to put money in my account for me so I didn't have to pay a copay when I visited him.  He hasn't done that in a long time though, so I was super surprised that there was a credit on my account.  I love that!  It makes me feel so special and cared for.  Dr. Wilding is a really good guy.  I'm so glad to know him.

Roger had an interview at work yesterday for an AMT position.  They said they had to interview one more person today then they would let him know.  He doesn't have high hopes that he will get it.  He is the most qualified and he has been working in that position for the last 6 weeks while they have been working on the hiring process, but Autoliv is not run by super smart people and they have always been about hiring their friends for the big positions.  Roger is not friends with the guy doing the hiring and he kind of feels like the guy doesn't like him, so who knows what will happen.  Roger's at work now and he still hasn't heard anything.  If they don't hire him, the other guy they are considering is a guy who is already an AMT in a different area.  He is someone who has never worked in Roger's area before, so he knows nothing about what they do down there, and if they move him, they will have to hire another person to be the AMT in his area.  It seems extremely stupid to move that guy over, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they do, because the guy is friends with the person hiring and he asked if he could have the position.  It is sad how stupid they are in their decision making there.  Roger had worked in that area for 13 years.  He knows it all very well.  He has also been working the job that he is applying for for the past 6 weeks and he has done an excellent job.  Roger heard that the guy hiring had asked another employee who he thought he should hire.  The employee told him to hire Roger.  He explained that Roger has been working down there the longest, plus he's been working in that position for over a month.  He told him that he thought Roger deserves it.  I guess we will see soon enough if they do the right thing or not.  I feel bad for all the stuff Roger has to deal with at work.  I'm so thankful that I get to stay home with the kiddos.  I am a %100 sure that I couldn't handle what he does at all.

I am feeling weak and super tired tonight, so I am going to go to bed now.  Also, my upper back hurts and I don't know why.  I feel like I overwhelmed myself with starting my vlog.  I was super motivated and determined to post a video every day.  It is fun, but the editing is so time consuming and youtube is frustrating because sometimes it uploads a video in mpeg4 format just fine and other times it won't.  When that happens I end up having to produce the movie in other formats until I find the one it will accept.  That takes forever, because it takes at least an half an hour for it to produce, then more time for it to upload and process. It's just frustrating and time consuming. I don't have enough time with homeschooling, crocheting , feeding my family, and taking care of the house.  I think I need to get more organized and prioritize things so I'm not stressing myself out trying to accomplish everything.

Another Snow Day! (Kinda) - January 9, 2017

Monday - January 9, 2017

The kids got another snow day today.  The temperatures were ridiculously cold out with tons of snow, then yesterday, it warmed up to 40 degrees.  They sent out many many warnings about a big storm that was going to drop a lot of rain and we would even have thunder and lightening.  That's crazy during the winter!  Anyway, the whole situation was supposed to cause major flooding or major ice everywhere.  so, they canceled school, just to be safe.  It ended up not being bad at all.  The roads were a little slushy in the morning, that's all.  But tonight, it is terrible.  Roger said it was so bad going to the gym.  He said the roads are pure ice.  It is not safe at all.  I have a feeling they won't cancel school, since they canceled it today.  They really should have had the kids go today and cancel tomorrow.  I guess we'll see what happens in the morning.  We have been having the craziest weather.  It's kind of fun and exciting.  It's also fun that the kids got to have two snow days.  They got to experience their first snow day and their second one right after.  I love it!  It would be really awesome if they cancel school tomorrow morning.  I'd love that.

I spent most of my morning editing the video we made last night.  We played pretend camping.  It was a lot of fun.  I made some yummy s'more cookies.  It was an experiment.  We didn't have what we needed to have s'mores, but we did have s'more cereal.  So, I made chocolate chip cookies and mixed s'more cereal in the dough.  The cookies tasted really good.  I was glad about that.  I have no idea how to get more views on our channel.  That's frustrating, but even if we never get lots of views, I don't plan to stop.  I think it is a lot of fun.  I love making videos.  I feel like I am more active when I vlog, because I want us to be more entertaining.  Life is way more fun when we are more active.

We had a ton of fun last night, but I had a hard time staying awake to get it all edited.  So, I decided to finish it this morning.  It took a lot longer than I expected.  I am still waiting for it to finish producing.  It is taking forever!  I didn't get to spend all day working on it, though.  Roger is home today, so we went out and about.  Roger is bored and tired of feeling like he is lazy, so, he decided that he was going to go to the gym and learn about joining.  He has never had a gym membership in his life.  He was always so active in sports, that he never needed to go.  He liked what he heard, so he came back and told me all about it.  I decided that I wanted to join too.  So, we went back to the gym and both of us joined. I'm excited to start going.  Roger went tonight with his friend, Brian.  I didn't go, because I really want to get this video uploaded.  Also, I signed up for the biggest loser challenge at the gym.  It starts this Saturday.  I figure, I don't want to lose any weight before the competition starts, that way I have more weight to lose and a bigger chance at winning.  I'm excited to start going to the gym again.  I think it will be fun and super helpful.  I'll feel a lot better about myself when I get in shape, plus the break from the house and all my usual stuff will be nice.  Also, Alissa can join.  It will only cost $15.00 a month.  There is no contract.  We just pay each month she decides to come.  I told her she needs to earn her membership by doing her chores everyday.  She chose dishes for her chore.  She started tonight and it was wonderful.  She did such a good job.  She was extra helpful tonight and I loved it!  I'm happy for her to earn her gym membership.  She is doing excellent and I think she will really like going to the gym.

Playing in the Snow and Indoor Camping - January 8, 2017

Sunday - January 8th

We woke up to even more snow again today.  I love the snow, so I'm enjoying this.  But the weather forecast says it's going to warm up tonight and tomorrow and we will start having flooding due to the amount of snow we have and all the rain we are supposed to get tonight and tomorrow.  It says the most rain will fall tomorrow, so we should expect flooding in the evening.  I'm bummed because I love all this snow and will be so sad if the rain washes it all away so quickly, but I am curious to see what this crazy weather we've been having will bring us.

Roger, Parker, and I went out to shovel the driveway this morning.  Parker had a lot of fun playing with Forest and digging in his snow cave.

 Forest was funny after he climbed up here.  He didn't want to move.  We were shoveling snow and even when it landed on him he wouldn't budge.  Parker thought it was funny, so he climbed up next to him to add more snow on top of him.  Forest didn't seem to mind at all.

 We made a video for our vlog tonight.  We played pretend camping.  We had a ton of fun.  After we made our treats for our fun night, we set up camp.  Then I had us all go on a hike through the house with the lights off.  We used flashlights to light our way.  Roger is a stinker and didn't follow us on our hike.  Instead he hid somewhere and we had to go find him.  We knew he was going to jump out at us and scare us.  It was a lot of fun.  He scared me really bad.  After that we sat by the fireplace and told ghost stories.  When I was telling my story, Roger noticed that he could see my reflection in the fireplace and he thought it looked cool and creepy, so he took some pictures.

Here is our video we posted on youtube.

After all of our fun, the school called to say that school is canceled again tomorrow.  This time it is canceled because of possible flooding or freezing rain.  I think nobody knows what to expect.  The kids were so excited!  I scared Alissa when I went to tell her about the phone call.  I told her I had some really bad news that she was going to hate to hear.  I sounded really sad and sympathetic and took a long pause before I told her.  She was so happy that she didn't have school and so glad that it wasn't something bad.  she said I really did scare her by the way I told her.  She really thought I had some terrible news.  I'm not usually good at tricking people, so I was proud of myself for that one.  Lol.

Back to Normal - January 3, 2017

Tuesday - January 3rd

Life had to go back to normal today.  School started and Roger has to go back to work.  Yucky yucky.  It's hard to get back to that stuff.  I love it when we can all be together without the interruption of school and work.

Forest was being really cute begging Alissa to rub his belly when he woke up.  Our poor little Alissa had to go back to school today.  No fun.

Here's Forest chillin' with Roger after Roger woke up.  He's a fun puppy doggy.

Utes Basketball - January 1, 2017

Sunday - January 1st

Missy and Mikal invited us to go to a University of Utah basketball game with them.  They had VIP tickets that they got from Mikal's boss.  It was awesome!  We got free food and our seats were right behind the players.  It was a lot of fun.

The game was televised, so we told the kids to look for us.  They sent me a few pictures of us on tv.  They said we were pretty much on the whole time.  It was fun.  They thought it was fun watching us at first, then they got bored and went off to do their own things.

We had a lot of fun hanging out with Missy and Mikal. On the drive to Missy and Mikal's house, I found $25.00 in the pocket of my pants.  I must have lost that there around Christmas time, when I was trying so hard to earn money crocheting to pay for Christmas.  Everybody pays with cash, so I had a lot of cash that I was dealing with.  Anyway, it was a fun surprise, but the money didn't last long.  After the game, we went out to eat at the Olive Garden and used my money to help pay for it.  The food was yummy, but I wasn't really hungry.  We had free food at the game, but Roger said that wasn't real food.  He's funny like that.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun hanging out with Missy and Mikal.

Missy got an EMF detector (the thing that detects spirits somehow)  She had used it in her house but hadn't found anything.  It was fun to play with it and talk about the places we could take it.  After the game, when we got back to her house, it was dark.  Before it was time to leave, I needed to use the bathroom, but I all of the sudden felt really scared of her hallway and bathroom.  We pulled out the EMF detector.  It didn't go up, but it was just below the red mark where it would go off.  When we used it earlier, it hadn't budged from the starting point.  I was creeped out.  They all thought it was nothing.  So, I hurried and went to the bathroom as fast as I could.  When I came out the door, Roger (of course) was hiding in a room at the end of the hall and jumped out and scared me.  That freaked me out a lot.  It was funny though.  Good times.

 These are the pictures the kids took of the TV when we were on it.

 Roger caught a ball when they were throwing them to the audience.

 The drive home got really scary.  A we hit a big storm when we reached Ogden.  The roads were not fun.  At one point, I was looking in front of us and my eyes couldn't comprehend what they were seeing.  There was a car on the freeway heading in our direction.  It was actually turning around and headed toward the exit.  It was just a terrifying sight, as soon as my brain figured out what I was seeing.

The drive was long and not fun, but we made it home safely.

Hats - December 16, 2016

Friday - December 16th

I made a new hat last night.  I kept seeing ads for a messy bun hat.  I was surprised when I clicked on the link and got sent to an Etsy shop.  This shop was getting a ton of sales.  I spent some time checking out her stuff and trying to figure out how she is getting so many sales.  The conclusion I came to is that it all has to do with advertising.  I need to do a better job at advertising.  So, I decided to work on that.  Today, I had Alissa's friend, Sydney come over and model some of my hats, so I could post some more professional looking pictures of my hats on my store.  Sydney was very patient with me.  I felt bad, because it was really cold outside and I had a lot of hats that I needed pictures of.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Also, here is a link to my Etsy store: Thread on Your Head.  I set up a Facebook page for my store today and tomorrow I'm going to set up a twitter and Instagram account to start sharing on.  My plan is to start sharing pictures and posts about my hats very regularly.  I will post links to my hats and my shop at least twice a day on each of those sites.  I really hope I can get things moving, so I can make some money off of my hats.  I've sold hats on Etsy over this past year, but the way I've sold the most hats is on Facebook and I sold them for cheaper than I sell them on my Etsy store.  I really don't like doing that though.  I work hard on each of these hats and I'm tired of making them for barely any money.  Anyway, so I set up my store, selling the hats for the prices I really want to be selling them for.  I will be super excited when I get my first order after raising the prices.  I really hope people will order.

This first hat Sydney is sporting, is the messy bun hat.  That seems to be a big seller.  I see these hats a lot lately.  They are cute and simple.  I love it.

 I was frustrated with photographing the turkey hat.  I made it a few years ago and because it has been sitting in the closet for so long, the feathers don't stand up as well as they used too.  That makes me think that the next time I make the turkey hat, I'm going to give the feathers more support so they will stay up better and longer.

 This is my only non hat item.  This is the infinity scarf.  I have not posted it for sale before, until today.  I couldn't decide if I liked it or not, so I had put it away and I haven't seen it in a year or more.  After seeing it again, I realized that I like it.

Beautiful Sunset - September 28, 2016

Wednesday - September 28th

Stinker Dog - September 27, 2016

Tuesday - September 27th

Forest is such a cute puppy, but he is also a really big stinker.  Today he figured out how to get the bottom part of the refrigerator off.  I kept putting it back and he kept pulling it off.

Picking Pears - September 26, 2016

Monday - September 26th

It's it time to learn all about canning pears.  I've been looking online and printing up recipes.  I plan to make a lot of pear sauce.  The pear tree was really full of pears.  Our plan to pick them all was to have Roger climb the tree with his hockey helmet on and shake it really hard.  We tried to lay some blankets around the base of the tree to catch as many pears as possible.  We got a lot of pears, but we also lost a lot of pears.  I have a lot of work coming my way.  Parker and Brinley helped me pick up all the pears.  We filled a large box and 2 laundry baskets with pears.  We put them in the coolest part of the basement.  Now we get to wait a few days for them to rippen.