Why do I always need a title??

I don't title my regular journal entry's, yet I feel the need to come up with something for a title on each blog entry. What's that about!?

My older brother, Travis, will be having his gastric bypass surgery on Thursday. It's something that's been needed for a long time. I just hope all goes well. All prayers & positive healing energy are very welcomed & appreciated. The surgery is being done at a hospital 2.5 hours from where they live, so my parents are renting a van for the week to get him there & back.

Speaking of my parents, I know there have been things about them that I've looked down on in the past, but as I sit here on the eve of my 34th birthday I feel like I need to express how appreciative I am of them. They are the most caring, giving people you will ever meet. Sometimes to a fault (when it comes to their kids, at least), but their generosity & charity have given me so much to build off of. It's amazing how these two people who knew absolutely nothing 15 years ago are the ones I turn to for many things. They are some of my best friends & I wouldn't have it any other way!

Tyler had a follow up appointment with the doctor about his shoulder & things are moving right along. He's dying to be out of the sling. I got a call from the school nurse last week telling me Ty was "caught" by one of his teachers not wearing it & was sent to the nurse to have this miracle healing confirmed by his mother via a phone call. I love that they seem to care about him at this school. It's such a different experience this time around!

Jordan goes back to school on Monday. He's dying to go back. The other day I gave him lines to write for hitting his brother & when he finished he begged for more. LOL Silly kid, doesn't even know a punishment when he sees one. ;) He's been asking for more lines every day since. :P

Logan has been in need of some extra attention apparently. The other night he woke me up a few times to kiss owie's that either didn't exist or had been there for a week & were invisible in the dark. It's funny how even at 3 a.m. I still find his sweet face irresistible!

Hayleah has a hair cut scheduled for tomorrow morning. I love Savannah Burt's hair so I called Jamie & asked her to give Hayleah the same cut. I'll try to actually scrapbook pics of it soon & post it. I'm excited to see how cute it looks!

Lastly, I'm dealing with some health issues (nothing too serious, just distressing) & will explain more later. For now, please keep me in your prayers.

Death & decisions

I got a call yesterday from Candlelighters to do an emergency casting. A 3 year old baby girl had passed away, quickly & unexpectedly, at St. Rose that morning & the family wanted to get a casting of her hand & foot. It's always heart breaking to see the families of children with cancer, but none more so than the family of a child who lays dead right in front of them. These castings are the hardest on me. They leave me bursting out in tears at any given moment for days afterwards. I can't imagine the pain this family must be going through. Even with my knowledge of the Plan of Salvation & what has been prepared for my family while we're here on earth, my heart hurts at the thought of losing one of my children. It's these castings that make me appreciate what I have so much more.

My heart goes out to this family. I've never met them before yesterday but today I ache for them. I know they must be hurting so much.

I am so grateful for my family's health.

One of our fish, Gus, died the other day. We've had Gus since we first moved to Vegas 5 years ago. He was a big, fat gold fish that the kids loved to watch & feed. He's been through 3 moves with us & has withstood a long list of attacks of a 2, 3, & 4 year old (all Jordan), including the vitamin B incident where all the other fish "hitched a ride on the porcelain express", & a few different incidents where he jumped out of the water & landed on the floor several feet below & still managed to survive!

We will miss him.

Dave was offered a position as a Manager at his work for the umpteenth time last week. It was for a team that had a few really good producing sales agents, a few so-so ones, & a few new people that needed some serious work. After getting down to the nitty-gritty of it all, it came out that the top producing agents had plans to move to other managers teams, leaving the new manager to take over a group of sales agents with no more than 5 months experience under their belts. Of course it takes time to build a good team, which is why Dave hasn't taken on the role of manager thus far. Time is money & if you aren't making it you're in jeopardy of losing your job, not to mention the lack of money! Naturally, he has turned it down.

That leaves us with the decision of whether or not to go to Durango. It's a lateral move, which is starting to make less sense because he can do here what is being offered there (which is nothing more than something to put on a resume) & it pays more here. It doesn't come down to the almighty dollar, but that does play a part in things. We want our kids to be able to go to college & have their missions paid for....all things that need money. Do we go somewhere that pays less but is prettier? There's still laundry to be done, no matter where you are. It's more beautiful there, but our core issues will not change even if the scenery does (laundry being the bain of my existence, hence the laundry comment).

So, it looks like Las Vegas is where we will stay. :) We are headed to the Temple early next week & plan to plead our case there, but I think we already know the answer.

I may have spoken too soon...

We may not be moving to Durango afterall! We have some big decisions to make & Sunday can't come soon enough for my Temple Recommend interview!! It expired last month & I missed my last appointment to get it renewed because of Tyler's shoulder incident. I need it now more than ever!

Keep us in your prayers, if you would....

Our big wooden playground

We can't take it, for obvious reasons, unfortunately. I'm bummed about this because the kids play on it literally every day, but it just doesn't pay to move it so we have to sell it.

I listed it on Craigslist today so here's a link if any one's interested in it: http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/bab/837288817.html

If you've ever been over here, you'd know it's in great condition & the play house on top is the most fun place for the kids to pretend all kinds of fun stuff in. I'm sad we have to part from it but I'm sure it'll get much love from other kids.

So it looks like it's a go!

We're packing! Dave hasn't officially been given the go ahead, but we're moving forward with this move as though it could happen soon. I'd rather go before winter hits, for sure.

I have several things to sell before we move, our play set being one of them. I posted it on Craigslist the other day & almost immediately got a call on it. They came out & looked at it but I haven't heard back from them yet. We're going to sell the air hockey table, as well as the crib & whatever else I come across that I don't want to move again.

If anyone is in need of boxes, moving or otherwise, I found a few really great places to get them for free. I went to Borders yesterday, looking for boxes, & spoke with the manager. She said she used to work for Pier 1 & would hold boxes for people all the time. They're sturdy, come in various sizes, & best of all FREE! I also hit up a pet store while I was over that way & they had a bunch of boxes in every size.

We spent the entire day out yesterday, running around & going to this doctor & that doctor. Logan & Hayleah were such good sports about it. Tyler not so much, but I know he wasn't feeling too hot so I'll cut him a little slack on that one. Ultimately, the orthopedic surgeon said it won't need surgery & to come back in 2 weeks for another set of x-rays to make sure it's healing properly.

He went back to school today. I don't think I could've kept him home if I tried! He was bummed about having to stay out of school yesterday. I don't know whose kid he is when he gets like this, but it doesn't seem as though he's mine. I can't complain though. :)

I really dislike HMO's

I called the pediatric orthopedic surgeon this morning to make an appointment & am told they need a referral from Ty's pediatrician before they can even make an appointment. Okay, fine, I know all about Cigna's hoops. I'll deal with this, no problem.

I call Dr. Bakerink's office (I love Dr. B, btw...he's great, his staff, other than Candace, not so much) & am told they won't refer him out until they see him. Apparently it's not good enough to be seen at the hospital, they want to dip their hand into our pocket's too. Grrrr....

We opted for the low coverage this year, taking a gamble that nothing major would happen. Nothing really ever does happen, so the odds were low. I guess you get what you pay for, eh? And boy do you pay for what you get, should you actually need anything!

Rant over....I'm letting this go now & am making the choice to have a happy day, no matter what. :)

Ty's arm

I forgot to mention he fell from the 4th or 5th step onto the floor below, but if you see him he has informed me this incident will now be referred to as the time when he rode his BMX bike off a very high ramp & crashed & burned. He said it sounds cooler than falling off the stairs. LOL

He amazes me by how well he's able to keep his sense of humor through this. Either he has a high pain tolerance or those big white pills really do their job! ;)

Tyler, Tyler *sigh*

I swear that kid will do anything to get out of doing work! Last night he managed to break his humerus, just below the shoulder. OUCH!! We spent several hours in the ER last night, waiting for them to tell us what we had already surmised. We heard it crack when he hit the ground. :(

The kids were all very worried about him. He'll be fine in time. It's pretty rare there's any nerve damage with this kind of a break.

Tomorrow we get to go pay an ortho to tell us it's broken (again). They don't usually cast an arm when it breaks in this area. He'll probably be in a sling/immobilizer-thingy for the next 6 weeks.

Poor kid....it has to hurt! He's been very funny throughout this. He found the silver lining right away & is very happy not to have to do any more dishes for a while, as well as getting out of having to help with the move. Brat. :P

Looks like we might be moving!

Dave's old boss was given the VP job in Durango, Colorado recently & we've been kicking around the idea of joining him out there for about a month now. I'm fairly sure we'll be looking for a new home soon! I've already started trying to hunt down free boxes where possible. If anyone has any they're willing to part with, I'd be glad to take them off your hands. :)

Durango is a small town, with only around 15,000 residents. The nearest temple is in Monticello, Utah, about 2 hours drive away. It's located up in the mountains....way up in the mountains. It's about 4 hours to Albuquerque & 6 or so hours to Denver. Even better, it's only about 12 hours from my parents in Kansas! :)

From the pictures we've seen, it looks a lot like Lake Tahoe without the lake. ;) There is a river, though, & tons of things to do.

I'm starting to allow myself to get a little excited about this. If we do actually make the move, I really think it'll be good for our little family. The job opportunity is really good for Dave to boot!