Just an update...

Today I'm a proud wife!  My wonderful husband not only keeps up with all of us and supports us no matter the circumstance, but recently he's been a busy bee lengthening his resume.  He recently finished taking the Network+ boot camp then passed the certification exam, then did the same with Security+.  He has attended the A+ & CEH (certified ethical hacker) boot camps and still needs to take those exams.  Last week he attended the PMP (project management professional) boot camp and just received the email that he's approved to take the exam....so he'll be studying up for that as well.  Also, in case he hasn't been busy enough, last week he began his Master's degree...he'll be getting 2 master's degrees...MBA and MIS.  Those should keep him busy.
Anyway, I still try to workout as much as possible.  I don't really lose weight but I know I'm pretty fit since I've been hiking (should have it's own blog post) and bike riding and stuff with minimal difficulty. 
Erica and Mikayla are both in The Little Mermaid that the middle school is putting on this year and Mikayla starts back up soccer again tomorrow.  Erica is also auditioning for the solo in her DC Children's choir spring concert tonight after the regular choir practice.
Jacob is doing so well.  I can hardly wait to get the report card and reward him.  Although yesterday at church, he gave me a bit of a scare.  We got there early (around 12:30 for 1:00 church) because i needed to make copies of the YW girls camp fundraiser that we were putting in all of the bulletins.  So, the girls and i were in the library, Jacob went straight in to set up the sacrament table, isaac found us a seat and he started going over his lesson for the deacons.  Then someone approached Jacob to ask him if he had his talk ready.  Well, that answer to that was a shocking no!  Oh dear.  Once word traveled to me in the library, i quickly finished up with the bulletins, and went to see if i could help.  Walked in the chapel to see Isaac still sitting calmly.  WHAT???  Isaac very calmly told me that we were not helping Jacob with this one.  Jacob was in a classroom somewhere getting his talk together.  He was to speak on the Godhead.  He was the first speaker and actually did a really good job.  He didn't have his script written, but talked smoothly as if he were reading something.  It was in that moment that I realized that even though we've missed some FHE's and nightly scripture study, we are still doing the best we can to bring our children up to know that their Heavenly Father loves them and that the things that we do and say are only to help us be better people and be together eternally.

Another blog post i will have to write will be when I find out if my children will need to be in school until July due to all the snow we got this year!

Snow Snow Go Away

The kids are officially out of snow days from school!  Actually they were out 3 less snow days from today!  Luckily today was only a delayed start.  Last Thursday, we got about 18 inches of snow!  The kids loved it....at first.  It is very pretty and fun to take a pictures....in the beginning!  Now...I'm so OVER SNOW!!!  We are still supposed to get 2-3 more inches tomorrow night as well.  YUCK! 

Saints vs Seahawks

Today we are having some friends over that are from Seattle!  This will be a fun time to be together and watch our 2 football teams in the NFL playoffs.  I'm sure Isaac will be a nervous wreck!  Erica and Isaac both have on their Saints jerseys so I probably need to find mine and put it on!  
We don't have people over a lot, so everyone gets excited when we do.  I tend to stress about the house, the dog smell, the dog hair, etc...  However, we do work hard to ensure people are comfortable when they come over and we always end up having a great time.
Isaac isn't sure if the Saints will win or not, but I'm hoping for a good, close game!!

My Family Makes Me Smile...

I was reading quotes from many different sites today and ran across this....

The family.
We are a strange band of characters
trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste
coveting one another’s desserts
hiding shampoo, borrowing money
locking each other out of our rooms,
inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant
laughing, loving, defending
and trying to figure out the common thread
that bound us all together!

Completely Overwhelmed!!

Today, when the alarm went off at 4:40, I slowly rolled over and pressed snooze.  10 minutes later, that crazy thing went off again and I managed to get up out of bed!  It's normally not that bad....however, as Isaac started asking me what was wrong I quickly realized how overwhelmed I am feeling right now.
Here are a few of the things that are causing me stress:

• the house is not picked up or clean
• the laundry is not done--it's barely even started
• there has been NO Christmas shopping to speak of
• there are no packing lists made for our trip to Arkansas - leaving Saturday
• the dog needs a bath BEFORE the road trip
• no arrangements are made for the guinea pig yet while we are away
• did i mention no shopping has been done?
• the Christmas cards were ordered and picked up, but nothing has been done with them since

So there you have it!  A little stress for my holiday season!!

Love to all!!!

My son keeps me humble

You may be wondering how in the world a 15 year old teenager could humble his mother, right?!

Let me start by saying that Isaac and I have always loved the 1.5-2 hours we get each evening when the kids are in bed and we are left in the house, and it's so still and quiet.  It is OUR time!  He usually rubs my feet, we talk about our days, watch a tv show that was DVR'd, catch some of a football game, sneak out for ice cream, or any number of things!
Recently, we had said our goodnights with the girls and gotten our night night kisses.  Jacob said goodnight and love you's as well!  About 10 minutes later, I heard something in the office area, someone was typing!  So instead of walking around the corner, I yelled, "who is still up?".  All I remember is hearing Jacob's voice, not even what he was going to say.  I started in on my ranting.... reminding him that he has to be up at 4:55 in the morning and that he needs his sleep, and he better not get sick from not being well rested, and that he still needs to wash his face and brush his teeth....  After about a full minute of my fit... he comes around the corner and proceeds to tell his dad and I how much he loves the story in the book of Luke of the prodigal son.  He was typing it up on his Facebook status and was excited to share it with his Seminary class the next morning.  I guess something had happened in seminary that morning where their teacher challenged them to read of the prodigal son and would allow 5-10 minutes for sharing the next day.  That's pretty cool of her, especially since this year they are in the Book of Mormon for studying.  
Anyway, after my ranting and raving, then him telling us how much he loved reading this passage in Luke, I did apologize to him and he headed up to bed.  He has his moments where I am humbled by who he is!  Love that boy!

Worst Mom Award!

I forgot to take pictures of my children on actual Halloween night!  What is wrong with me??  I cannot believe it really!  Jacob got home late from school, due to drama practice.  So we were running out the door, got about a mile or two away from our house and I realized I didn't have my phone OR my camera!  Isaac had his phone and we did talk about him taking a picture or two, but then we both forgot!  I did get a few pics of them during Trunk or Treat and Isaac got some of Mikayla at school, since he went to her school Halloween parade and class party.  Anyway...it was a first and NOT one I am happy about.  :(

Halloween...a day to remember

I've always like Halloween, never really had any reason to dislike it!  I think it has to do with how much I love to just watch people....and on a day when a lot of people are dressed up in costumes, it's just a fun day for me!
I love looking back at old pictures to see what my kids dressed up as when they were younger.  But today I'm especially reminiscent because one year today, I found out that a rare bacteria infection that had set up shop in my abdomen was officially gone.  
In June, 2012 I went in for what was deemed as a simple surgery, and what wound up happening was a 2.5 inch open hole was left on my stomach and was given oral antibiotics.  My blood work showed that after 10 days of the antibiotics and evidence of high fevers, I was sent to an infectious disease doctor.  She explained to me that my rare bacteria had a name, Burkholderia Cepacia.  It's a pretty bad bacteria that is really hard for humans to get rid of, since it is mainly found on plants.  It really liked me and began to colonize instead of die.  So I had a mid-line IV for some IV antibiotics, along with which I was assigned a home health nurse.  Mid Lines are for short term use.  So my doctor had them remove it after my second surgery which was in August.  About 3 weeks later, I found myself in the ER with a high fever and really bad abdominal pains.  One of the colonies had hidden and the bacteria was back in full force.  This got me a real quick admittance into the hospital.  While I was there, I got my PICC line.  The IV that threads to just outside your heart and is used for long term use.  Luckily I got my same home health nurse, and now i was on the "last resort" antibiotic.  After 7 weeks of this treatment and one more surgery, my blood levels finally proved that the infection was gone!  Whew!  
So Happy Halloween and here's to a another year of healthy living!!  : )

Cycling

Yesterday, Isaac, Mikayla, and I found ourselves at home.  Erica was at a DC Children's Choir retreat and Jacob was helping with one of his buddies' Eagle Scout project.  So after Mikayla's soccer game, we were all 3 here at home with no particular plans.  We decided to go on a bike ride.  We went down to the Needwood Park trail a short distance from our house.  Mikayla used Erica's bike since that one has gears.  We had a good time.  We rode for close to 9 miles.  That's pretty good, I think.  Mikayla was trooper and worked the gears pretty well with it being her first time to use them.
Today I woke up with a "great idea"!  With it being General Conference weekend, church was not going to start until later than usual (east coast living).  I thought it would be nice for Isaac and I to go on a bike ride again.  We went back to Needwood Park, this time with camelpaks on and runkeeper keeping our distance.  We rode for 13.6 miles today.  It was quite difficult actually.  I was thinking it would be pretty easy since i didn't feel too sore from the ride yesterday.  So we pressed start on our program and then i hopped up on the bike and as soon as my butt hit the seat.....OH....MY.....GOODNESS!!!  I mean, OOUUUCCCHHHH!!!  LOL
Today, Isaac let me lead the way.  It was awesome.  We rode 7 miles down the trail, turned around, and rode 7 miles back.  We aren't sure why our program didn't say 14 miles total, but it's fine.  Success.  I only wanted to quit once, but when you're out in the center of a trail, you have to keep going to get back to your car!  
All in all, a great weekend, and a couple sore bottoms! : )

October 1st, 2013

I was hoping for a normal first day of the month, but it was far from the norm.  How shocking to realize that "they" actually went through with it!  This day was the beginning of the government shut down...or furlough if you're in mine and Isaac's line of work.  Being contractors for the government is a high risk job.  We knew that going into it, however, this really stinks.  Actually, it isn't as bad as it could be.  Isaac is not getting to work right now.  However, I am.  His building is completely closed for non-emergency personnel.  He falls into that category.  My contract or funds for my contract had been already been paid, so that is why i can continue working for the time being.  It could be short lived, but for now, we are grateful that I am able to log some hours at work.  I have faith that our family will be fine and we will pull through.  I just hate that this happens so close to the holiday season.  I pray the government leaders can come to some sort of resolution quickly.