What Do I Title This? Busy, Busy?

How can it already be two weeks since I posted? HOW?

So we celebrated my mother's birthday and my parent's anniversary on the 8th of this month. They have been married for 29 years. So we sat down to a lovely steak dinner and my father takes the first bite of his steak and literally starts choking. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom and could not breathe. I called the paramedics and they were at the house in less than a minute. They rushed my dad to emergency at the American Fork Hospital where we waited almost a freaking hour for the GI doctor. Luckily my father was now breathing but it was not an easy breathe...the piece of steak was stuck in his throat. He could not keep anything down and could not swallow either. The ER doctor came in and told my father there was an article about drinking hot water and that's supposed to soften things and help the food to pass. So while we were waiting for the other doctor, we tried it. It took him about 4 or 5 sips but finally, the piece of steak went down. What a relief. However, they wanted my father in for a mini procedure a couple of days later to see if his throat was closed off from years of acid problems. The procedure was done a few days later and sure enough, his throat was a mess from acid reflux. They opened his throat more for him and put him on strong acid pills. Hopefully he learned his lesson on that one...if you have acid, do something about it! It was very scary though...to see my father struggling like he was. My father has never had anything serious happen to him, hardly gets sick and so on so, to see my dad struggling to breathe, it was awful.

So Jason and I have been on the diet now for 15 days. I have lost 16 pounds and Jason has lost 10 pounds! Pretty exciting stuff. It has not been easy though. Most days are hard for me but as long as I am busy, I am usually ok. I am feeling good and have a lot of energy. I cannot tell too much that I have lost any weight. Some of my tighter shirts seem to be a tad bit loser but other than that, not much notice for me yet. Jason's pants are falling off of him...it's cute! So we are still going strong and all is well. I am still trying to get things right in my head with food before I decide what I can handle, such as Thanksgiving. I still do not feel strong enough to eat off the diet and get right back on the diet. I feel like I need to change my ways of thinking before I can handle that. But we will see...I am hoping with a little more time I will feel ok about food and strong enough to handle what I need to. What a head game, huh?

Tomorrow starts my last and final class for school. I am very emotional about it...it's been so long and I am so proud of myself. Last class, then Christmas break and on to student teaching after that! I am so excited! What a wonderful time.

Jason and I have been getting our Christmas shopping done. We are almost there. We put some stuff on layaway at Sears and have a bunch of things on Amazon waiting to be purchased. Everyone is almost done.

Jason is still working very hard to make this job work. We are still hopeful and prayerful that things will work for him and this job before the first of the year. It's been tougher than we expected but, the money is there, we see that, it's just not coming as easy. I think it's the adversary still trying to knock on our door. He knows my weakness is money...he knows that for sure. And I am trying to be strong and push him away and not let it affect me. Thank goodness for those school loans but it will only hold us over for another month or two. So, prayer, tithing, prayer, prayer and tithing...we are grateful for our blessings, for what we have and for faith.

Shelbi and Calib are wonderful. We are taking our family pictures tomorrow and that is always a fun time for me. Well, up until we have to actually take the pictures and Shelbi is looking somewhere else, I'm sweating, Calib is crying and Jason...well he's just passive and goes with whatever (most of the time). We went to Sears the other night for friends and family night...wow we saved a lot of money. Anyway, Santa was there to see the kids and take pictures and for the first time, Shelbi sat on his lap and told him what she wanted. And boy does she want a lot! The pictures didn't turn out very good because they were just from one of those small camera printers so, we'll have to go see Santa again. Hopefully he will be at the mall tomorrow when we take pictures. But it was so sweet to see her and Calib sit on his lap. Calib is smiling and starting to giggle. And he's chewing on his fist like crazy...it's driving me NUTS! But he is such a sweet baby and even when he's impatient and mad at me, he makes me laugh. He doesn't like to sleep during the day...a cat nap here and there that lasts about 10-15 minutes but, most nights he sleeps through the night in his crib so, what a blessing that is. Shelbi is doing great in school and in Karate. She has three really sweet, cute friends. She is best friends with Allie, Robbie (the twins who were at her birthday party) and now she has a little boy friend named Ryan. And every day after school she hugs Allie goodbye and then she and Ryan hug and give kisses on the cheek. Oh it's the sweetest thing I have ever seen in my life. She is such a sweet spirit and so stinking smart. I just love my children so much. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for them.

Mom and dad had a wonderful trip to Arizona. I am so glad she got to spend some time with her Aunt Hazel and her father. It went well for them. My dad got my mom on a helicopter where they flew over the Grand Canyon for an hour. It was the first time my mom has been on anything "airborne" since high school. Good for her!

Cyril is coming home for a few days next week for Thanksgiving. We are spending Thanksgiving at Cyril and Roxi's house this year. We will go and visit with my family for an hour or two before dinner hopefully. It's hard on my mom this year because my brother is gone. Speaking of...Travis and Raquel are having a girl! Poor Travis. Four girls in the house...he'll just die! He's having a hard time thinking of names. I threw some out for him but, no use. I'm hoping to go with my parents to Texas in February to see the baby. The baby will be born late January most likely. With Raquel's diabetes, she usually delivers earlier than her dates so, we'll see.

So things are pretty good. We are hanging in there. I am excited for the holidays...even if money is tight, we will be ok and enjoy the holiday and what the true meaning of it is. With Thanksgiving next week, we have so much to be grateful and thankful for.

Oh and can I just add how VERY EXCITED I am because in 3 days New Moon is coming out and we have reserved seats for the 5:30 show!! New Moon, New Moon, New Moon!

Welcome November

October is over...I cannot believe it. So I had surgery last Tuesday. It went just fine. Turned out I had "leftover" stuff from Calib that was making my bleeding bad. So the doc scraped it out and put in a trusty IUD! Let's hope it's trusty! I'm feeling ok but I think I have done too much the last few days because I woke up crampy today! I'm going to take some medicine and go to bed.

The time changed early this morning. I love having that extra hour but I HATE that it gets dark so early. Oh it's miserable. Oh well...such is life in the winter.

Jason has two appointments tomorrow! Woohoo! It's a little more slow going than we thought but, we're prayerful and hopeful that it will pick up for him and more will start to come. How blessed are we? We got $5,000 in school loans last week! I could not believe it! Right in the knick of time...we really needed it. So we did a Costco and Wal Mart run because we were out of everything and stocked up for this diet we're starting tomorrow and the rest we are saving for rent and bills for the next couple of months just in case things are a little more rough with Jason's job. Because of the holidays, people may not spend money on insurance right now. We'll see...let's hope that's not the case. So, we're praying, paying tithing and going to the Temple weekly. We are so grateful and blessed Heavenly Father answered our prayers with extra funds in school. How amazing.

Halloween was so much fun. Friday I took the kids to Roxi's work. Shelbi was adorable as an elephant and Calib as Mickey. Shelbi got lots of "chocolate muffins" (Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. She calls them chocolate muffins...can you believe she came up with that all by herself years ago!). Then Friday afternoon she had a parade walk at school. That was fun to see! Yesterday we made spider cupcakes for our church party. The party was fun; dinner, games and a walk as well. After that we headed to Alpine to walk the neighborhood with Grandpa Brad and Grandma Kim. Shelbi got a ton of candy and we had so much fun! We got home, gave the kids a bath and they were out from the busy day! Calib is sleeping through the night in his crib...he loves it and I'm grateful. He may get up once...depends on how long he's been asleep, how he's feeling and so on but, most of the time he sleeps all night long! What a blessing!

Jason and I start the diet tomorrow. I'm praying it goes as it should and I will be ok with it!

Mom is on her way to Arizona with my father to see her dad for the first time in 25 years...I'm so proud of her and praying it goes well for them, too.

Carving Pumpkins

Spider Cupcakes

Shelbi the Elephant

Calib as Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse, an Elephant & a 31 year old father of two (I know, not very original)

Darth Vader guarding his door from Trick or Treaters

So Much To Do...

I figured I better post today because I may not be able to for a bit. Shelbi and Calib did awesome at the doctor's. Our children are completely healthy...we are so blessed. Calib did so well with his shots. He screamed for about 30 seconds and then he was done. Shelbi did not need any, she is completely on track.

Shelbi had a wonderful birthday Saturday. She got pretty much everything she wanted! Allie and Robbie came and it was a small but very nice birthday. The dinosaur cake turned out adorable as always! I will post pictures after I write all of this.

I went to the doctor's again on Friday and saw Dr. Hansen for the bleeding. They did another ultrasound and whatever is up there is still up there. So, Dr. Hansen has decided to go in and see what it is and insert an IUD at the same time. See...I have no medical insurance after the 31st of this month. This includes medicaid...I do not qualify for that because Jason makes too much on unemployment. Funny, huh? So we looked at the private insurance that Jason is selling. Jas gets a discount on insurance now. Well, guess what?! Because I am so overweight, I do not qualify for any private insurance. So let me say this...I know I am overweight. I know it is not healthy to have this weight on me. I have absolutely no health issues because of my weight though. Does that mean it will always be that way...no...I understand that. So, the insurance companies are looking at me like I am a risk. Fine, whatever. So I am now starting the HCG diet so I can get this weight off rapidly and get some insurance. I am hoping that with the diet and losing some weight, I will want to stick with it, I will feel great (better than I do now) and will continue to eat healthy and change that habit. I am so blessed because I am not self conscience, I am not unhappy or anything like that because of my weight. I know so many people who hate themselves because they are heavy and I am not one of those people. Like I said, I know I'm heavy and it is not healthy but I do not feel bad about myself at all. Well, until I found out I cannot get insurance! That made me feel a bit bad about being heavy! So the HCG starts next Monday. I am nervous because it is a pretty drastic diet but, Roxi and Cyril are on it and I know they will support and help me on it. They've been doing it for so long now they're pros! So I'm hurrying and getting this surgery in while I still have medicaid. Crazy...

I am a bit stressed about getting all my observation time in before Christmas break. I have had so much going on and now with this surgery...good luck! Most likely I am going to have to go weekly and 6-8 hours a day to get it all done. Wish me luck!

Jason and I have been going to the Temple weekly. I really have needed that and I am enjoying it. I have decided to concentrate on one thing monthly. So this month I have started with inititories. But I started late in the month so I think I will continue it over through November. I really enjoy doing those...I think it is my favorite thing to do. Then I will go on to sealings, then sessions and so on. I really wish I could do baptisms...guess it is time for me to get my own names, huh?! Maybe it's Heavenly Father saying, "Your Great-Grandparents are waiting!!"

Jason has his first appointment Tuesday. He has gotten so many A leads and people seemed interested but it usually takes them a few days to realize they cannot put it off. We thought it would be a bit faster than this so, I'm trying to be patient and have faith. Of course his appointment would be the day I am supposed to have surgery. And I wouldn't let him reschedule so, Roxi's going to take the kids and mom is going to the hospital with me. I'm praying Jason's first appointment goes well. And more will soon follow!

I am excited for Halloween this week. I cannot believe it is the end of the month already...time goes too fast. The holidays are approaching. My goodness...

Shelbi and FOURsha (Her yearly birthday Build-a-Bear)

Dinosaur Birthday Cake Made with love by Grandma and Mommy

The Birthday "Haul"

Blowing out the candles (Notice the flying Pterodactyl)

Shelbi opening presents with the help of her friend Robbie and Grandpa

Shelbi with marker on her face because "it helped her dance"

Sweet Shelbi

As many people know, I am an avid reader. I read so much that I cannot remember most of what I read after I've read it. After a month or two, I will almost completely forget what the book was about. I do not think this has much to do with the fact that I read so much...I think I have a terrible memory. I collect childrens books. I have so many childrens books, I fill up 3 book shelves with them at the moment. I just gave my mother about a bookshelf full to keep for the kids at her house. I had duplicates and some water damaged books that I gave to her. I cannot bare to get rid of books, even if they are damaged. I have books from my childhood, some colored in, some with torn pages. I told my mother that if she wants to get rid of some books, she will have to do it because I cannot stand the thought of giving up one single book. When Shelbi and Calib were in the womb, I would read to them. Now Shelbi and I (along with Calib on my lap) will sit and read books for hours a day when we have the time...which is almost daily. Before Shelbi goes to bed at night, we lay in bed and read book after book. It is absolutely my favorite thing to do. I have two childrens books written. I met an editor who works at Shelbi's school and she told me it would be best to have an agent to help get my books published. With an agent it is much better and easier to get in the door. So, I have decided to wait until I have the money for that to contact an agent. The point of my story? I was reading a book to Shelbi two nights ago called "Emma's Pet." Shelbi likes to read books over and over again for several days before we move on to something different. I have so many books but at this time, I'm pretty confident we have read every single one and at least twice a book! I NEED NEW BOOKS! So Emma's Pet is about a little female bear who wants a big, cuddly pet and she goes on a search for one but just cannot seem to find the right one! So she sits down on a rock (which is actually a turtle) and cries. She goes home and ends up finding the right pet, which is her father. It's a sweet book. Anyway, Shelbi was reading the book in her bed by herself the other night while she was settling down for bed and watching Mickey Mouse. She calls for me to come into her bedroom. I walk in and she has little tears coming out of her eyes and I ask her what was wrong? I noticed she had Emma's Pet in her hands. I am trying so hard to stifle giggling because I know she is "trying" to make herself cry because Emma was crying. She holds up the book with the page open to where Emma is sitting on the rock crying. When I start to be sympathetic to Shelbi and talk to her about the book, she starts to ball. It was sweet but funny at the same time. I am kind of giggling as she is wailing...I know awful of me but it was so cute. I explain to her that Emma is only sad for a minute and then she finds her daddy and she is so happy! She calms down and stops crying. I put the book away hoping she would forget about it for a while but, we read it again last night in bed and this time, she smiled when I read it and seemed to be much better! I had to share that story. She has such a tender heart...most of the time! hehe.

Yesterday we took her dinosaur cupcakes to class. She looked adorable in her new outfit from Grandpa and Grandma Webb and her birthday crown on her head. She helped Miss Kerry pass out her cupcakes to her class and we all sang happy birthday to her and another little boy who was having a birthday as well. The cupcakes turned out so cute! Shelbi also got her first school pictures back and I cannot believe how ADORABLE they turned out! I LOVE them! Today is her actual birthday...the 21st. I cannot believe my baby is 4. We will give her her yearly Build-A-Bear that daddy and I make for her and the rest will wait for her birthday party on Saturday. Today she and Calib have a doctor's appointment. She has a check up, hopefully no shots. Calib will have 3 shots...not looking forward to it but, got to do it right?!

Happy birthday baby girl! Daddy, Mommy and Calib love you Punki! Heavenly Father has blessed our lives when he sent you to us!

Calib, Mommy, & Shelbi

New outfit from Grandma Webb

Calib & Grandma Pixton

Dinosaur Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Princess Shelbi

Best Friends: Shelbi & Allie

Passing out the cupcakes with Ms. Kerry

ONE MORE MONTH!

Drum roll....

Attention everyone...the countdown is on! There is officially 1 MORE MONTH...I repeat...1 MORE MONTH left until New Moon is in the theatre!

WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!