the one about the pouring rain

The pouring rain, you ask? Well, it has been made clear to me lately that when it rains, it pours! That is not meant to sound negative, but in this update, every story has something to do with rain or pour. Plus, we have had so much going on lately, that.. yes. It does seem like when it rains, it pours!

I'll begin with rain/pour story #1. (Warning, this story is kinda long, so feel free to skip ahead.) As probably everyone knows already, I have some issues with my heart. I really hate talking too much about this but I have been having some problems recently and thought I would share. In January, I went in for my regular check up. My Doctor decided to take me off of my medicines because I had been doing so well. It was decided that the negative side effects of my medicine were not worth it anymore and as long as I didn't get pregnant, I was fine. The first few months were going well, but lately I have noticed things were changing. My energy was crap and my blood pressure and heart rate were getting high again. I got super sick with flu like symptoms during the first week of June. I went to my family doctor and she said I had a virus. I had been fighting a fever, aches, chills and all of that fun stuff. I started feeling a little better within 10 days or so, but still not awesome. I was up and down for a week or so, then i got really sick again. I was feeling awful and I knew it was my heart. Brett had called my cardiologist and made and appointment, but until then I was supposed to stay down and track my vitals. (Sure is handy having an EMT for a husband!) My appointment was set for Thursday July 1st. The Friday before, I could feel I was going down fast! I felt awful. I had a RESTING heart rate of 120-140. I had headaches, body aches and a sharp pain in the left side of my neck. We were super scared. We called the cardiologist and he didn't seem to concerned. He kept saying that my heart looked great in January when I had my last echo cardiogram. Well a lot had changed since then and I didn't feel like he was taking us serious. By Tuesday night, Brett was scared enough that he felt like we needed to go to the hospital. I didn't want to go to our local hospital because I knew they would just send me to SLC. We packed up everything, sent Quayd to my brother's house and hit the road. We got to SLC around 11:00 pm. When I got to the ER, there were several people there waiting to be seen. As soon as they took my vitals and heard my symptoms they marked my chart as "URGENT" and took me right back. I saw a Doctor right away, they started an EKG, blood work and a million other tests. I had a fever of 101.5. They did several different tests and scans on my heart and decided that except for the high heart rate, it looked good. They knew there must be an infection somewhere but didn't know where so they didn't dare give me an antibiotic. (BUG! What is with doctors and antibiotics these days?!?) They gave me some meds and IV fluids and I started feeling better. They released me the next day. I still had an appointment with my cardiologist on Thursday so we just got a hotel room and crashed. When I went to the cardiologist, he was a total jerk to me! He made me feel like I was wasting his time. Don't get me wrong, I was glad that he said my heart looked good but he didn't even take the time to listen to everything that had been going on. He pretty much told me that I was old and fat. OLD???? I am 31!! Fat??? Yes, but had he looked at my chart and cared a little bit, he would have been impressed to see how much weight I have lost since I last saw him. He adjusted my medicines and sent me home. He was a huge ass! We drove home and I was feeling worse than ever. On Friday, I went back to my family doctor and she said that it was obvious that I had a terrible sinus infection. I had a fever of 102 and she gave me an antibiotic. I have been feeling better, but my heart rate is still high. I still have body aches and I just don't feel that great. I guess it will just take time. Whatever. Anyway, I can't end this story without telling about the HUGE outpouring of love I felt during all of this. I have such great family and friends and they were right there, bringing us meals, stopping by bringing treats, visiting, calling and texting and it seriously meant the world to me! My pal Cara let me borrow her New Moon movie so I could get all caught up before I go see Eclipse. She also brought me some popcorn, licorice and these fun vampire teeth!

Love it! Thanks Cara! We had tons of fun with these!

Ok, rain/pour story #2. It was the Annual Galley family camp out this last weekend and it was a blast, as usual! We had a huge turnout and I love being around this great family. We were able to go river rafting on Friday morning, and even though I wasn't feeling great, I still had a great time. (There was on incident that happened that kind of put a damper on the weekend, but I am saving that for story #3.) The weather wasn't totally cooperative. It rained and poured almost the whole time. Oh well. Nothing can ruin our camping spirit!

Not even rain/pour story #3. Brett, Quayd and Finn headed up the mountain for camping on Wednesday night. I needed to stay and work another day, so I rode up with Talia Thursday night. It was so nice to get there and have camp all set up! Brett and Quayd did a great job. After we ate dinner that night, we were all chatting around the camp fire. Brett started playing around with some of the teenage boys. Not sure how it started, but they started having a fly swatter war. Some how, Brett stepped back in a hole and hyper-extended his knee. He was in a lot of pain but said it would be ok. By Friday afternoon, he was about to pass out from the pain. He decided to head to town and go to the ER. The ER doc said he tore a contour ligament and that he needed to see the ortho specialist. He said it would most likely require surgery. The Doctor put him in a brace, gave him crutches and sent him on his way. Brett made an appointment for Monday (today) at 4:30 with the ortho guy. We weren't sure what a "contour ligament" would be, so when he got back to camp, we googled it. (Yes, we had Internet on the mountain. Talk about "roughing it!") It is either the ACL or the MCL. Both are very bad. We decided to wait and see what the doc said on Monday. We went to his appointment and were told many different scenarios of what it could be. All sound pretty bad. Brett has to have an MRI of his knee so the doctor can see exactly what is going on, then we will go from there. I keep reminding Brett that he is not as young as he used to be, so playing with those teenage boys was probably not his best idea. Actually, he is suffering enough with the pain, so I have tried to keep my mouth shut. So when it rains health drama at our house, it pours!!!

Rain/pour story #4. A few weeks ago, Brett had to teach a HAZMAT class in Price. He had already been in Denver for a few days for work then 3 more days in Price. I had been feeling crappy and stressed and I just needed my hubby. Quayd and I packed up and drove there so we could spend the weekend with dad. we ended up staying an extra day and we had a great time! Brett was teaching with his friend Todd and his family ended up coming down too. One night while Brett was teaching, Todd's wife and I took Quayd and the other kids to Toy Story 3. The next day when Brett was finished teaching we went to the wave pool.

The waves were seriously pouring down on everyone! It was so much fun!

We were lucky enough to get to go boating with my brother and his family on July 4th and 5th. That brings me to story #5. We packed a nice big lunch, bought fishing licenses, caught night crawlers and got all ready for a fun day on the lake on the 4th of July. We were there for a couple of hours and guess what? It started to rain! And when it finished raining, it started to pour! We tried to stick it out for as long as we could, but we were freezing! We had caught several nice fish. We thought if we just cruised around the lake for awhile, it might clear up. We had been going pretty fast for awhile when we realized that our fish basket was still hanging off the side of the boat. We stopped pulled it in and it was empty. :( All of our fish fell out the bottom. It was raining even harder, so we packed up and went home. Empty handed. Because of the long holiday weekend, we packed a new lunch and headed out the next day! It was perfect! We caught lots of fish (and even came home with them!) and cruised around on the lake for hours.

The tooth fairy is responsible for rain/pour story #6. She has been hitting our house so hard lately, it seems like it is raining tooth fairy magic! Quayd is at that age where he is losing tooth after tooth after tooth.

It seems with each tooth comes less drama! Quayd used to freak out when it was time to pull a tooth. Last week, he lost one while eating a ice cream cone and it was never retrieved. He lost another last night and he came to me and asked me to pull it. The tooth fairy has brought "scratch and win" lottery tickets for the last two teeth lost. He thinks they are so cool. :) He is getting so big! I love and hate it!

So I guess that does it for my "when it rains it pours" blog. Kinda hokey, I know. And very long. Sorry about that. Once I finally take the time to sit down and blog, the word seem to just pour out!

the one about a quickie to the city

On Thursday evening while taking my trash cans to the street, I stopped and chatted with Danette, who was doing the same thing as me. We decided it would be fun to take the kids out to Salt Lake City to the State Fair on Friday and Saturday. Brayden had entered some 4-H projects in the county fair, and some of them went to the state level. We wanted to go see those things as well as have fun playing at the fair. The Brooks' go every year. Quayd and I had never been, but we will be sure to go in the future! We also needed to do some shopping for The Country Bear, so it just worked out perfectly. It was very last minute and impulsive of us, but we went and had a blast! Brett and Brandon were busy with work so it was just the moms and the boys. We drove out on Friday afternoon and went straight to the hotel to check in, then to the fair. We played at the fair until they shut off the lights! We were having so much fun we hated to leave. We slept in on Saturday morning, had breakfast and went shopping. We went to several places for The Country Bear and then we hit the mall. We also had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. We were headed for home by 6:00 that night. It was a fast trip, but very well worth it. Here are a few highlights of our trip.

These were at the Division of Wildlife Resources booth at the State Fair.


Check out my little daredevil! He is a ride junkie!!! Just like me. I LOVE RIDES!!! I rode every single ride with the kids. Danette is not a huge ride fan so she just watched, but the boys and I were die hards!!! This ride took you way up high, then just dropped you! I LOVE Brayden's face in this one!
This next ride was called the Moby Dick. It went really high and went around and around. This was probably our favorite ride there. I lost my shoe on it one time though, but the nice carney-workers stopped the ride and got my shoe for me!

Who doesn't love the tilt-a-whirl!?!?

I never could get very good pictures of the big slide... but it sure was fun!
I don't have any pictures from Saturday, because, according to the kids, it was a BORING day. We just shopped. and shopped. and shopped. Of course Danette and I thought it was lots of fun!

I am so glad I have such a fun sister-in-law. We have gotten so close over the last few months and I am so happy for that! Of course, I have the best nephews in the whole world and I am proud to be their favorite aunt. (Ask them... They will tell you I am their fave!! The better, anyway!! ;))Our kids are close and love each other so much. How lucky are we to have some of our best friends/family as next-door-neighbors!?!?!

the one about my trip to LA

In July, Danette asked me if I would like to go to Market with her to shop for stuff for the Country Bear. HECK YES!!!! Brayden was dying to go and now that he is old enough it was time for him to experience market. Danette talked to me about it on a Friday, and we left the very next Friday. It was short notice and a quick trip, but SO WORTH IT! It was so much fun. I had never been in the downtown LA area before, so I was excited! We flew out of Salt Lake City on Friday evening and got into LA pretty late. We ate at the hotel and went right to bed. We got up early on Saturday, caught the shuttle and a shopping we did go. Here is Brayden being a weird-o at the hotel before we left!! (he he he)

This is Brayden and I on the shuttle. Market was actually in two different locations. We didn't care where we went first, so we just took the first shuttle. We found some pretty cool stuff the first day. Not tons of new things, but a little. We were there for most of the day and by the time we got back to the hotel, we were beat so we ate and went to bed. Sunday morning, we headed for the other location, and it was much better! We found some great new lines and got some awesome ideas for the store. We actually finished up at a decent hour and since we had some time to kill, I suggested we go on a tour or some thing. Danette was a little nervous, being in a new place and a huge city, but I finally talked her into riding public transportation to Hollywood! I was so excited to go!!! I talked to a guy that worked in the visitors center in the convention center and he told us just how to get there and what we should do. We hopped on the subway and away we went! When we got off the subway, we were right in the middle of Hollywood. We were right across from the Disney theater and they were actually having a movie premiere right then. It was for G-Force. That was kind of cool to get to see all of the action surrounding that. Immediately, this pirate chick came up to Brayden, handed him a sword and posed for me. Ok. Whatever. I took a picture of them and she told me, "We work on tips." I just stared at her. Then she said it again and stood there waiting for me to pay her. WHAT?!?!?! I gave her a dollar and she walked away. Apparently that is very common and I noticed that people were paying all kinds of freaks for photos. It was weird. I had to pay her so I could take a picture with MY camera. And Brayden didn't even want a picture with her!!! Look at his face!!! HaHaHa! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy that picture. It cost me a dollar to take it! So strange. I feel like a rebel, but I took this picture of Barney and he has no idea!!! Shhhhh, don't tell him! Anyway, we decided to ride a double decker tour bus and check out Hollywood. It took us all over and we saw tons of cool things. Rodeo Drive
Rodeo Drive, again
Beverly Hills
We didn't tour the stars homes... We didn't have time for that tour too. Anyway, our tour would stop in various places and we could get off the bus and get back on when the next bus came around. We decided to get off at this cool shopping center and farmers market thing. We had a nice lunch, wandered around for a bit, stopped for a photo opp and headed back to the bus.
We shopped around downtown Hollywood for souvineers, saw some fake celebs, a prostitute and hopped back on the subway. I tried with all of my might to take a picture of the Hollywood sign, but I never could get a good one.
However, I got a lot of pictures of this dude's head while trying to get a picture of the Hollywood sign. That counts, right? That evening, Brayden and I swam at the hotel and then we played cards for awhile. We went to bed early since we had to leave for the airport early Monday morning. Then we flew to Salt Lake City. I split up from Danette and Brayden at this point because Brett needed me to pick up his new car. I met up with my Uncles Kim and Jayme. They took me to the car lot and made sure I got the car all squared away, then we all left and I drove home. I was home before 8:00. It was a crazy fast trip, but so much fun. I am so glad I have such a cool boss that let me go along for the trip! Brayden and I get really silly sometimes and I know we drove Danette nuts, so I sure hope I get another invite!!!

the one about my trip with Tara

So I am home from my big trip to the big city. Tara and I had so much fun. Last night when I got into bed I realized that I was just exhausted. Then I realized that my face hurt and I think it was from the non-stop laughing!!! Tara has many gifts and talents. I will not name them all today, but one of her "special" gifts is her ability to make me laugh CONSTANTLY!!! Oh my gosh, she is such a nut. And she comes up with the most random weird things to say. I find myself really pondering the unbelievable things that come out of her mouth, then I just have to remember.... "its just Tara." Other times I think, "TARA!! Filter!!" She lacks that part of her brain that actually filters things out. It's like a chemical imbalance or something. Sometimes I wonder if we were created from the same mold because we are so much alike in so many ways. One of us can start a thought and the other will finish it. Usually it is funny or obscene. But sometimes it is serious and deep. I have told her more about me than probably anyone. And she has known me for a LONG time! Not many secrets there. And YIKES! I know more about her and Gary than I even wish to think about. I just shuddered thinking about it. Ok, happy place.... happy place. ;) When we are together, we can talk about ANYTHING. We have nicknames for everyone. Some of them are, (and I won't tell who they go with!! Nobody you know, I am sure. Mostly people from work) Big Tuna, Sharon, huffer, Meth, hacker, Bobby, Casper/Pigtails (same person), Rick or Mike or Ken (same person, again), and Snaggle. We have code words. Some of the mean something and others are just strange things we shout. "Balls" and "Trapeze" are our new favorites. Don't ask any questions... Remember, they are code words. Anyway, enough about that... I love this woman and I am so glad she is my friend. Nuff said.

So.... On to our trip. We left Monday before lunch and headed straight for the Park City outlet mall. We bought so much stuff! Of course, most of it was for Christmas, but we did get a couple of things for ourselves. Once it started getting dark and we were getting hungry, we headed for SLC. I needed to go to Michael's for my brother then it was Cafe' Rio time!! YUMMMMMY! My car was getting pretty loaded and we were getting pretty tires, so we headed for our hotel. We stayed at the Airport Holiday Inn West. It was pretty nice. Our training was in the conference center in that Hotel, so that was handy. Tuesday morning was the first day of our class. We learned quite a bit, but a lot of it was stuff that didn't apply to us or to our Hotel. We went shopping again after class. We got a lot more done. Spent a lot more money and had a lot more fun. Went back to the Hotel, slept, and went to class Wednesday morning. On our lunch, I wanted to go to Mrs. Backer's Pastry shop so I could get my mom a nice Birthday cake. They have the yummiest cakes EVER! They also have heavenly eclairs, cookies and anything else you can imagine. It is such a cute little shop! I love going in there.
Then we had to head back to class and finish up. We were out of there by about 3:15. We had one more shopping stop, then we were headed home. I am glad we went, mostly because of all of the shopping I got done, but also because I was able to see some of the ins and outs of our Hotel. It was cool. And we had so much fun. Seriously. My poor car was loaded to the top!!! Its a good thing our last purchase was so small. ;) Good times with Tara. TRAPEZE!!!!!