My parents came to visit

As a warning my parents left this am, so we are still a bit sad about their departure. About a month ago I was randomly searching for airline tickets from Manchester NH to Salt Lake City and I saw a price that was great, almost half the price I had previous seen them at, so I called my parents and they agreed to come and visit. Last Wednesday they flew in at about midnight Utah time or 2 am east coast time, they where really tired. Julie and I had set them up downstairs in our unfinished basement on a new Aero bed air mattress a worth while investment, and had everything ready for them. They crashed quickly. Thurday or Day 1 was a day of relaxation, well sorta, the kids had fun in the pool, and we did some small grocery shopping, Julie and I tried to get as much before hand as we could. And I did some errands that day as well, getting everything ready for school.

Friday day 2 we where all still tired, I had smoked a pork shoulder over night, showing my papa the ways of smoking. Oh ya the day before I spent quite a bit of time adding a water pan and making my charcoal basket much bigger with the help of Dad, I needed it, my welding skills are very poor. We had yummy smoked pork shoulder that night with my BBQ sauce, a bit too spicey for Dad. Oh ya the day before I had BBQ's some pork steaks from Costco, coated them in mustard and put mesquite spices on it, it was the best, cooked perfectly.

 Saturday day 3 we went to Pineview reservoir to meet up with the youngmen for the ending of their camp helaman. We brought up lunch for them, the reason for the pork shoulder, and the kids had a blast. Eli is not a fan of water, yet, and my parents took him for a walk along the beach and helped him get use to how the water felt. The views and the scenery to get to Pineview are awesome and my parents agreed, they had a ton of fun, we all did. That night I smoked a beef brisket, made sure to leave out the cayenne powder so my Dad could enjoy it more, it turned out great, we had a huge party on Sunday day 4, all of Julies family was there, Evan and his family, some neighbors the Kortman's, Naomi and Barry. It was great having my dad help me cook the french fries in my turkey fryer, and Paul helping out with the other supplies. Made me a happy son of two fathers whom I love very much. Everybody loved the spread of food we had, I even had to cook some more pork since we where afraid we would run out. What fun that was to relax, being with family and friends!

 Monday day 5 dad and I went with Rod to do some fishing in the Uintas, Rod introduced us to a very cool area that had many feisty brookies, which I will visit again. The scenery of the Uintas is incredible, I knew my dad would love it and he did.

No BBQ that night, we went out to dinner to Texas Roadhouse, they have a gluten free menu for my mom to choose from, it was fun to drop the kids off and go on a double date with my parents and Isaac. Tuesday day 6 we went to the Hogle Zoo, Julie got lost following me, and we got all confused, didn't make the bird show, but we had fun chasing the kids around looking at everything. That afternoon I took my Dad, Jake, and Eli to Cabelas, those boys will talk your ear off, holy smokes they kept us entertained. My Dad got the things he needed, plus a bunch of stuff for us, 2 fishing poles, a very nice heavy duty french fry cutter, and water toys for the kids. Got home to some yummy dinner, and Mom and Julie had just about completed a new comforter for Julie and I, it turned out great. Wednesday today I got up very early and took my parents to the airport. Coming home wasn't easy, good thing it is only less than 10 minutes to get home! Julie had waken up because Jake was crying already about missing grandma and grandpa. Took my time getting ready for work, coming to work was hard, I called Julie as soon as I could and both Emily and Jake where crying, sad about grandparents leaving.

Mom and Julie making our flannel quilt

Grandparents and grandkids

This vacation was so much fun, it was perfect! The things planned mixed with relaxation was just right. My parents played, cuddled, teased, and involved my children with everything. Emily got very spoiled with many little gifts and much attention, Jake and Eli had a couple more sets of eyes watching them, and more people to play with. One of the nights we watched the movie Forever Strong on Netflix, it is about the Highland Rugby team, a very good movie. I had not yet seen it, there where many father son themes in it, which effected my father greatly. My thought was the way my Dad is now treating my children is what matters most to me, and it was so awesome to watch my Dad with all 4 kids, the way he treated them, held them, and talked with them was so precious. Eli sitting on grandpa watching TV, grandpa holding Isaac, playing with Jake in the pool, made me forget of the shortcomings I saw in my father growing up. So hard to see my parents leave, my Dad being a dad and an awesome grandpa, my mom being a fun grandma and showing us all how much she loves us and showering us all with gifts.

We cannot wait to go to NH next year, we will not wait three years to see grandma and grandpa DeYoung, my kids won't allow it!

Diagnosis and coping

Well where do I start, how do I effectively explain what is going through my head, where do I begin? It is my hope that I can answer those questions, and do so in a way that is understandable. It hopefully isn't a big deal, atleast it isn't right now, but I was recently diagnosed with a disease that I had hoped never to get, and that is type II diabetes. As an Acute Dialysis Tech I see what happens when people don't take care of their diabetes, they get renal failure, and thus dialysis is needed. My feelings of fear that this may be my fate depresses me, but this disease is diet controlled at this point. How did I get into this predicament? That one is easy to explain, getting fat caused this, and not doing much about it, until now. Poor Julie has to help me watch my carb intake, which means making the family suffer for it. Ha the family so far hasn't suffered, in fact we have gotten some pretty good meals so far from this, and I expect there will be many more. With careful diet changes and going out to exercise I hope to be able to keep this disease at bay. Although once diagnosed it is never cured and will always have to do sugar checks, have a low carb diet, and get off my butt and exercise. Ya and nursing school hasn't helped, not only is there added stress, but knowing what I know about diabetes this is frustrating. Only thing to now do is to go forward and deal with what I have been dealt and make it the best. Protein is my friend, more excuse to BBQ every chance I get ;)

Welcome Isaac

It has taken me a week to write this, as Isaac is now a week old, and time just seems to speed up. Last Wednesday evening I went to get into bed, which disturbed Julie enough that she needed to go to the bathroom, as she stood up her water broke. Yikes, not so soon, this is happening 3.5 weeks early. Isaac was born May 19, 2011 at 3:48 am. What a great addition to this crazy family, he is so smart and strong, really a great baby so far ;) I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Click on the pic to enlarge!

Trying not to discuss politics

The day after elections, it's really hard not to talk about politics, so with this post try will try to refrain, but I do have one thing to mention that I will get too. But first a couple of funnies.

Yesterday Emily and Jake got a ride to school, well Emily did and Jake rode his bike as our kind neighbor followed. I was already at the kids school working the polls and Julie was suffering from being prego, she is so exhausted. Anyways Jake got to the school safely and started to get his bike lock off, as he was doing so he was telling my neighbor that the code to his lock is very secret and he will never divulge the "secret code". In the process of getting the lock off and locking the bike the "code" got scrambled and was having difficulty getting his bike lock back on. The neighbor offered help, Jake then yelled "the code is 3141". So much for a secret code when half the parking lot heard what it is!

This I posted on Facebook today, My father in law bought an old wood chipper, the blades are chipped and very dull, so he decided to call the 1800 number for service and parts that was on a sticker and got a phone sex hotline instead. He is a bishop in the LDS church, bad bishop bad! This has made me laugh since I heard about it last night.

Lastly I will not mention politics why sour this post with that garbage.

Another Sibling dropped off at the MTC

This has been a crazy week. Jason my little bro arrived to Salt lake City monday morning to report to the Missionary Training Center on wednesday. When he landed we started off running, did more shopping that one day than several days worth of shopping. We where able to gear him up for the upcoming adventure. Tuesday Jason and I went to the Salt Lake temple, which was amazing, been a while since I have been able to go, and I am very glad we went. The temple is always worth going too no matter how hard it seems at times to make it there.

 Tuesday afternoon was the time to BBQ and get the smoker going. Made very yummy burgers for lunch, smoked some beef jerky and for dinner cooked some amazing New York steaks. Had enough meat to last me the rest of the year. Then the snow fell that night, Jason was very happy to see it snow. Then at 11pm the adventure began, the carbon monoxide detector in the basement started to alarm, I changed the 9v battery, but it continued to alarm. Since it continued to alarm I called 911 and we where told to leave our house, so we had to get all the kiddos out of bed and got into our Durango and waited for the fire dept to show up. Five minutes later they arrived and monitored the CO2 levels in the house, turned out that the battery I replaced the old battery with was also dead, ARGH!!! After a new battery that was confirmed to be fully charged the alarm no longer made ear piercing sounds. For the prompt service of the fire dept we gave the guys some apple crisp Julie had made earlier that night and some of that beef jerky that was declared  smoked steak ;) We seem to always have an adventure of sorts at the oddest of times. Jason got to experience the craziness that seems to befall us. We all got to bed very late, this was not good since I had a test to take at 8am the next day. Surprisingly I did better than I thought I would since I had very little time to actually study. On this same day we drove Jason to the MTC, he was expected to report at 1245, he got there on time. It was really neat to see the new way these new missionaries are welcomed. Back when I was reporting to the MTC it was hard, felt lost. Now when dropped off the new missionaries are welcomed with the road lined with missionaries welcoming and assisting these new missionaries. We said our goodbyes and hugs exchanged and Jason was welcomed by 4 or 5 missionaries leading him as to where to go and that was the last we saw of him.  Jason was welcomed into good hands and it was great to see the support that was given.

A great thing living here in Utah is that I can be there for my siblings. I was able to drop Melissa off at the MTC as well several years ago, what a great opportunity! I will miss Jason, but he will do well, he is in good hands, and I have faith that he will be successful and be able to learn the things he needs to learn to be a great missionary and whatever is in store for him throughout his life. Love ya Bro!!

Click on images to see them bigger

Added stress but I will take it...

Consider this to be the official announcement, since our children and a few friends already know. The fourth child is on the way. Personally I was hoping to keep this hush hush for a while since we just found out 2 weeks ago, but news travels fast, and I was hoping to have some fun with the announcement. But that wasn't meant too be, but I will try to make the best of it. We had decided let's take our chances back in June of this year. We both know we need to bring another little one to this world of ours and now would be a good of time as any. If we planned things right the baby would come in summer time when I do not have school to worry about, and it is looking like that will be the case. As a husband and father I find pregnancies very stressful, so many worries with the infinite amount of things that could go wrong. My love for my sweet wife in immense, but with the hormonal shifts that a pregnant woman has it can be a rather challenging for the husband, the future father. It is my goal to be able to cope better, you would think that I would be getting better at this being the fourth time around and all. Julie may just be a few weeks or a month along, but we have much to look forward to, and too get ready for the little one to come into our lives.

The sky is falling, a new post!

What a new post, gotta be kidding me!! Ya I know, I am a major slacker when it comes to posting on the blog, I mean gosh blogs are so over rated now and so 2005. Being 2010 I am catching up to the times and blogging only a few times a year it seems. It all comes down to laziness or not even thinking about writing here, I mean who reads this anyways?? And not to mention the craziness of life with three crazy children, being in nursing school, and trying to continue to do fun things. Oh and too top things off I have a recently new calling working with the young-men, well if you consider late June to be recent. I have also taken on a new website, a forum actually, and I dare say the topics are rather controversial, discussing everything political and religious. Good things for great mods to help control the masses, well the very few who continue to post. It seems easy to get burnt out from politics especially with all that is happening, so difficult to keep up.

Life is crazy, Julie has a way of putting things on her Facebook account that paints quite the picture of my little family, let me first say that what she does post is very little to actually what happens, I wish I could get her to contribute here and expound on some of the things we experience as parents of some very unique, intriguing, bundles of energy. Hopefully she reads this soon and takes the hint....

Some recent examples of Julie's Facebook posts

Last night Emily broke a glass in the kitchen. As I was cleaning that up Eli was throwing up all over the living room. As everything else was happening the cookies were ready to be taken out. All I can say is I was very glad that Jon was home to help!

Sunday at 8:39am

Jacob just woke up and the first words that came out of his mouth were "I never knew I had slobber in my sleep."

September 17 at 7:16am

I have been crafty today making hair clips and burnt satin hair flowers. So cute! One day a picture will get posted :) When Eli is old enough to do it!

September 16 at 7:36pm

I am going to plug my arm into Eli's - steal his energy, and then work around the house all day...it should work!

September 9 at 8:45am 

Being sick

Well my excuse for not writing is that we have been so sick this winter. Mostly with the kiddos, but we have had 4-5 rounds of strep, ear infections, vomiting, and the common cold this winter and we are sick of it. (Pun intended). So with weather warming up and spring on the horizon we are hoping the winter of illness will shortly be over. The grass is starting to turn from brown to green, there are buds on the trees, and my itch to BBQ has grown tremendously, season of change is here.

The only other thing to report really is the we had signed Jacob up for wrestling. He absolutely loved it, it was so much fun to watch him learn from the coaches and to see his progress as he learned new moves every week. Jake was soaking up the time he had to learn by doing everything asked of him and doing it well. There where four tournaments one of which we missed due to a sickness, but he only had one loss. It was very fun to watch him apply what he learned in the tournaments. I will upload pics and video when I get home tonight from work.

The topic of school, well I have to retake a couple of classes, I am currently taking Pathophysiology, and it's going much better this semester, the teacher is actually teaching, a rare concept it seems. I am happy with school this semester, no complaints, so far, all is good.

The issue of politics with the healthcare reform bill being passed yesterday has me rather upset, and having a hard time to express my disgust in appropriate words. A few profanities come to mind really quickly, but after those are said in my mind I am at a loss for words at how express my feeling towards our politicians. In the end what I have say matters very little, so I may just keep my mouth shut after-all. Well that's all I have to say for today, I do plan on writing on this blog more and not neglecting it so badly. Besides there are only a couple of you who read it anyways, but thanks for reading!

Wonderful time of the year!

As much as I dislike the month of December this year was a very enjoyable Christmas. Being finished with Christmas shopping early played a big part in being able to enjoy the rest of the month, I will have to remember this! Christmas day was very fun with my little ones. It is my hope that I will never have to put together another doll house ever again. All the kiddos got stuff that they would enjoy and they all seem very happy about what they got so far. One of the greatest blessings is that we did not go into debt for Christmas gifts and I love that, no bill hanging over my head for the next year. I am so grateful that Julie and I are able to have our needs met without using a credit card. We didn't have an outrageous Christmas, far from it, but we had a great time watching Eli helping everyone unwrapping their gifts, and the children's excitement for something new.

Anyways, all is well, we are all very happy with life right now, can't ask for much more that that!!

Can't believe it's November already

Life is still crazy, I don't think this will change for a while. Yet I have to give many thanks to my sweet wife who is always looking up, and trying to keep me thinking positive. She is so awesome, supportive, and someone for who I am extremely thankful to have in my life. Julie sensed that I am kinda giving up with school, and honestly I have to admit that in some ways I am. It seems no matter how much I study my grades are still not up to par. for those who knew my study habits in high school, well they where non existent, so I am learning how to study now. The Salt Lake Community College has said that you have to pass with a 78% of greater, which is a C+. My grades are in the C range 75-77, just on the bubble, so frustrating. I am pretty sure I will need to take pathophysiology again, had a test on friday that was one where my mind decided to turn off when I looked at the computer screen, so that grade was pretty bad.

It's now November, time to really start thinking about Christmas and how are we going to get our children gifts on such a tight budget. We have been getting things here and there and when it comes down too it we are almost done. The tricky part is what to get Julie, got her some really nice ear rings last year just to have a child put them down a drain, took it apart but still couldn't find them. I know she wants clothes, but whatever I picked out I am sure would be a mistake. Do I get a gift card? Those seem so cheesy and impersonal... ugg maybe I'll just surprise her, get a babysitter and take her along. Good thing she doesn't read this unless I let her know that I have updated the blog. Doesn't really matter if she knows, I will discuss this dilemma with her soon anyways.

This fall we have all been fairly healthy, just a few bumps, but other then those things are going very well for us, laters.

P.S. Just to responds to one of Ruth's comments, all we can do is laugh at all that happens. I know I make these posts seem too serious doom/gloom, I am trying to not do that as much. Yet my humor is a bit off anyways =)

My life in a simple image

Got to mow my lawn

Things have been going better this week, I am no longer working in Ogden, I am back to Salt Lake. Need to get my hours and it wasn't happening in Ogden, Salt Lake has plenty of work for me. I will miss how laid back it is at McKay-Dee, but I gotta quit draining my PTO. Last week was my last clinical day for the semester, YAY, but I had a nasty Pharmacology test. I studied my tail off, did okay on it, came home and did some yard-work since I had the rest of the day off. Well I got an email from one of my teachers the next day asking why I missed a test. Holy crap I missed a freakin test!!!! Sigh, just when things start turning around something like this happens. I feel so retarded for missing something like this. Now all my test days and times are on our main calender in our house, thank you Julie! I just hope and pray that the rest of the tests I take will be really good grades. Going to hopefully take this test today, but will be marked off 10 points per day. There is a saying the God will only challenge you to a point that you can handle. I am soon to call BS on that theory and say that we are challenged at times beyond what we can handle, something about achieving self-actualization and your own potential. Just need to make it 'til tomorrow! I keep telling myself that, seems to be working ;)

Weekly tests and going bald...

Been a few since I have posted anything, heaven forbid neglecting the blog. Life has been crazy busy with not much to show for it. Work has been okay, been hard getting my hours on this schedule. I got the flu three weeks ago, had all signs and symptoms of H1N1 but the instacare no longer tests for it, but they prescibed me Tamiflu. Not sure what to think about this stuff except very expensive and didn't really do anything for me, supposedly it's suppose to make the flu not last as long, but I still missed a week of work. Pretty sure I got it from school, jerks, what are people thinking coming to school and taking tests when sick. Honestly I don't blame whoever it was they threaten you with your life if a test is missed for any reason. My grades in my three classes are very poor, I haven't done well on any test, need to find a way to overcome this. I haven't never before studied or prayed so much in my life, just wish it would pay off with better grades. Tests have been occurring every week, which is a pain, I haven't done any yard work that is very much needed to be done and other household stuff. Tomorrow is my last clinical day, been kinda boring at the long term care center I have been going to. And care plans are the absolute worse time sucker out there. Although I am doing well writing them, they just take a long time to do, so much stinkin info is required with these. With all the stress of everything going on I have yet to go bald, I am very surprised about this.... knock on wood!

Stressed!?!?!?!

Four weeks of school done, three tests, and every minute accounted for, life has been crazy busy. The tests I have taken are rather annoying computer generated tests that try to trick you instead testing your knowledge. My frustration is at a toxic point because I don't test well doing these types of tests, yet if I want to pass I better get use to it. Really I do enjoy nursing school, I have learned a ton so far, and I like what I am learning, I just hate despise loathe abhor the tests and how busy life is since I am also working full time. It seemed to come to a breaking point this week, on Thursday afternoon I had two tests to take and I had studied a ton for both of them, took the test, felt confident in my answers, and I get my grade at the end of the test.... wasn't very good. This was so frustrating to feel like I did well and then see my score being poor was like hitting a brick wall running full speed. My wonderful wife has helped a ton calming me down and helping me realize that it is still the beginning of the semester, that I will accomplish my goals, and that she is there for me. I really don't deserve to have someone that amazing in my life, she is awesome. Besides that life is pretty good, it was Julies birthday this past week, so I made dinner of her choosing and tried to make it a special day for her. My failure was huge since we are so poor this time of year and she usually doesn't get much for her birthday. I hope to fix this issue soon, sorry Julie!
Laters

Temple dedication

Yesterday was a day that church was cancelled for all of Utah. Kinda weird huh! Well instead we were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication in our local building via satellite. This temple is located on the southwest side of the Salt Lake valley and is the fourth temple built in Salt Lake County. Julie and I had the kids watched at Grandpas house and off we went. To be honest I really just wanted to stay home and skip this, after all church was cancelled why do something churchy(I know not a word, but I like it). Well this turned out to be one of the most spiritual experiences I have had in a very long time. These experiences are very difficult to put into words, in fact as I write this I am unsure as to how I could even come close to explaining how I felt in a somewhat decent manner. We got to the church a bit late so we where in the overflow in the gym on metal chairs that are not very comfortable. As Julie and I rotated butt cheeks we listen to the speakers talking about the importance of temples and what they mean for us in today's time. The dedicatory prayer was given, and hymns where sung. This is when I felt overwhelmed and everything just came together for me. The hymn The Spirit of God has always been a favorite. As this song was being sung I felt as if I was being cleansed, all my sins being washed away. I felt proud to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I felt like this was where I was suppose to be. I felt many more things, all indescribable with my limited intelligence. It was something I desperately needed to experience and will remember for a long time. Life is interesting, it amazes me that we have these opportunities at times when we least expect. This also a time for personal thought and wondering why am I sharing such a personal experience on a blog, honestly I don't know.

Berry Quickie

Went to the Berry (Strawberry Reservoir) for a couple of hours this morning, decided to hit Chicken Creek West, had my 5 year old son and brother in law with me. So I ask my neighbor to use his float tube since he has offered, so he hands me this box. Holy crap it's never been used before..... and I get to break it in. Friday night I put it all together, pump everything up, ahhh the smell of fresh virgin rubber. Went to bed late, woke up late left the house at 745 am. Met my bro in law in Heber, grabbed some crawlers and got to THE spot around 915 am. So I have never float tubed before, had no waiters, just some flippers, swim shorts, and two shirts. Holy crap that water is cold, instant shrinkage, and me second guessing what the crap I was doing in very cold water. Well I get totally loaded up and head out, I didn't go too far, wanted to keep an eye on my boy, but Cliff my bro in law had things handled. Across the way I notice the DWR (Department of Wildlife Resources) is here checkin licenses.... I remember Cliff saying he forgot his license on the way up from Heber.... this may get interesting. I decided to slowly make my way in to see if I need to be there for my son in case Cliff is put into handcuffs. I was bouncing a worm tipped with Power Bait along the bottom when WHAM! Mr. Bendo decided to visit. "Oh crap I have 4# test line on, I gotta baby this" I couldn't reel this beast in at all, and this fish feels alive, gotta be a rainbow trout. Fifteen minutes later and made it to shore as Cliff is sweet talking the DWR Officer, I finally see the beast.... it is HUGE. Turns out the 'bow was 25 1/4 inches long and more than 4 lbs. Yeah Baby! The DWR Officer was impressed mentioning that's the biggest bow she has seen in a while. After the excitement wore off I noticed I was wet up to my chest and realized my legs where a bit numb. Cliff was asked to go to the DWR truck and work things out so I was able to warm up hanging with my son on the shore. Twenty minutes later and just a warning (lucky) Cliff comes back rather pleased that my son told the CO that he is fishing with his teeth today, thus putting her in a good mood, and letting him off with a warning. Fished for another hour, no more fish. Got to my truck and was very happy to change into dry clothes. My legs finally defrosted when we got into Salt Lake. A very fun trip, lessons learned for me, son, and bro in law. Enjoy!Sorry no pics, they are on Cliff's phone, trying to get a copy, will post as soon as I get them!

Camping

We went camping Aug 13-15, and had a crazy time. As activity's chairs, Julie and I where in charge of our ward(church) camp out. We arrived around 2pm at the camp site, being the first ones there we got to pick the best camping spot, right under a group of small trees. This was great because we saw rain every day that we camped. After night one Julie was in tremendous pain since her ribs are still broken, she had a horrible night. We drove home, precooked as much as we could for the breakfast that we where preparing for everyone the next day. The kids and I returned to the campsite early afternoon, leaving Julie and Eli home to recover. It was a blast to watch Jake ride his bike up and down the dirt hill, he had so much fun. Julie surprised us by coming up with her sister Sheri and she helped me make foil dinners. They where yummy, foil dinners are so good to eat while camping and easy to cook. The 2 kids and I had a good night of sleep, I awoke early to get breakfast going. I made a yummy dutch oven dish that was very simple, sausage, hash browns, eggs, and cheese, it was a hit. Shortly after breakfast was served the heavens opened hail and a heavy downpour quickly got us wet. Luckily the tent and most supplies where put away.

Yesterday, the day after getting home from camping was miserable. Emily and I where so freakin sick with a nasty stomach bug. I will blame stress of the camp out on getting so sick, it sure whipped me. No it was not food poisoning, because another person who was camping with us got the same bug, but didn't stay for breakfast that I made. I feel so much better today.

So this has been our first year trying out cooking with dutch ovens, so far I am impressed. They are fairly easy to use, simple as using hot coals, cleanup is way easy, and the taste these ovens gives is phenomenal. A new hobby found!

Family Pics

We got our copy of the family pics that where taken on August 2nd, I hope you enjoy, because I do.

Been a long time

I really have no excuse to not be updating this blog, it's kinda like keeping a journal for me, I am really great at it for a short time, but then gets greatly neglected. Well life is never boring for us. We have had about 3k in car repair bills, stupid stuff really, drained our savings which is the most disappointing part of repair bills. Julie got Broken ribs from a roller coaster at Lagoon on the anniversary that Emily broke her collar bone. And I am just preparing for nursing school this fall, lame I am 30 and still don't have a degree. Got this laptop for school, I love it, and hopefully I will be able to update this a bit more because of wi-fi at work.

Another thing that has kept me from updating this blog is because of Facebook. It is so much easier to write a sentence or two, than writing this, yes I am lazy at typing, I am really bad at it. Yet I have determined to resurrect the blog because as life seems so crazy and hectic now it is only going to get worse, and I might as well document it. Instead of writing all that has happened so far this year, I am going to start with what is current and go from there.

This past thursday we went to Lagoon with Julie's sister Sheri and her kids, and Eli was with grandpa Carling. We got there shortly after the park opened with excitement and nervousness. As an adult these "thrill" rides are a bit more daunting, hence the nervousness. Emily and Jake where very brave and challenged themselves to ride the "scary" rides. Jake was an inch too short for most of the rides, but Emily was able to go on all of them that she wanted. We had a ton of fun, the weather was great due to an incoming cold front so the wind kept us cooled off. My favorite rides with three being #1 due to thrill factor was Colossus, Wicked, and the Rocket. We where all able to fit on the same tube on Rattlesnake Rapids, which got us (except Julie) drenched to the core, no matter how hard we tried not too. Much to our delight Sheri offered to watch the kiddos while Julie and I went to ride some rides. I was looking forward to hear the shrills resonant from my sweet wife. We found the Jetstar, a smaller but fast rollercoaster. We went down the first descent and Julie looked back at me in pain, "oh Crap!" It turned out that Julie had her right arm next to her and at the bottom of the descent she got slammed to her right side and she felt and heard a pop, a rib broke. We soon left the park due to Julie's pain increasing, dropped the kids off at Grandpa's and went to Instacare. After some x-rays revealing that her lungs where not punctured we got the kids and headed home. This made for a very long day, full of emotions of excitement to one of great concern. I then called "sick" for work the next day, good thing I did, because I was able to help Julie out quite a bit, and changed 6 poopy diapers! Something positive to note my laptop arrived 3 days earlier than expected yesterday. Things are better today, I am at work, and my sweetheart has family to help out, which I am extremely greatful for.

Another Year!

Yes I know it's been a while since I have posted. Now that work is so busy I have found this hard to update and post new stuff. When work was slow I would just post in the morning waiting for work to call me in.

As I write about work I have to explain how in the past month more patients have died than any other month I have worked in 5 years. Yup I have been doing dialysis for 5 years now, supposedly that makes me a professional, blah whatever. In 5 years I have only had 2 patients die during dialysis, this past month alone there has been four deaths. Two where on the machine the other two where when I was nearby but helped with the code doing cpr, needle sticks, and whatever was needed. My black hand of death has all the nurses running from me... We have just been really busy and have seen some really sick people. People that die during dialysis or that are recieving dialysis regularly have other issues such as organ failure, ie lung, heart, liver failure. These happen to complicate the dialysis process with various tests, scans, operations, and not being able to tolerate any sort of dialysis. So if you have kidney failure keep me away!!!

A late update of our holiday season. To be honest the month of December is my least favorite of all the months. I have way too much past history that has occured in this month that I wish to forget, but can't because it has effected me to this day(positive effects, but effects nontheless). All in all it was fun to watch the Kids opening their gifts and seeing the excitement when those gifts where unwrapped. Eli being his first Christmas enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the new noise elevating toys. We where nominated by Julies family to have a paty for her family at our house. I had a great excuse to use my new charcoal bbq and bbq'd ribs, dogs, and some tenderloins. Since this is a new grill I overcooked everything, not yet use to the finesse way the charcoals work. I redeemed myself this past weekend though with the juiciest tenderloin ever, oooh so good. (wipes drool). Back to writing this... 2008 was a good year. It's amazing to me that every year that passes time goes so much faster. Time has seemed to have sped up over time, just plain crazy.

Our goals and plans for 2009 look even more exciting than previous years. We are planning a trip to Yellowstone in May, we are planning what to do with tax returns, more fishing, and more activities to do as a family. Jacob and Emily are getting bigger so some more options are available as we plan our upcoming year.

I am writing this from work, so when I get home I will update with pics taken yesterday.