the one about the fair

We LOVE the County Fair! We look forward to it all year. We love the concerts, the exhibits, the food, and of course the CARNIVAL!
It seemed like our family was at the fair the whole week this year! I am a 4H leader so I was asked to take a few shifts working "security" for the indoor home, arts & crafts exhibits. Brett helped with the fireman's challenge and there were just so many fun things happening so Quayd wanted to be there every minute. He visited the little red barn, participated in the candy drop and played at the carnival nearly every day. He also worked very hard this year and made some projects for the 4H exhibit. He is not an official 4H member until he goes into the third grade (in 4 more days) or turns 8 (in 9 days) so he wasn't able to compete or place for state judging this year, but he earned rainbow "Cloverbud" ribbons for all of his projects.




On Saturday, before the demolition derby, my mom and I took Brayden, Brennen and Quayd to the carnival. We all had so much fun! I started not feeling well after a couple of hours, so I had to leave a little early, but not before getting some great pictures!!!

he did it AGAIN!!!

Remember the helpful household tip??? Pine Sol in the swamp cooler?

Well, Brett did it again. Only MUCH WORSE this time. He came home for lunch the other day and I asked him to do the Pine Sol trick. I had done it the last time but I am just a little too short and when I dumped the capful, more ran down my armpit that actually went into the cooler. I reminded him, "just a capful!" Quayd and Brennen were in the living room playing Wii so Brett and I went to my bedroom to watch the noon news. After a few minutes, the boys came in and told us that they were getting all wet. Brett just ignored them. They came in a few seconds later and said the floor was all slippery. I told Brett to get his butt out there and see what was going on. Well no joke... we had 1/2" standing water on our living room floor! The couches were saturated and soapy and the power strip that has all of the tv cords was SOAKED! It shorted out and sparked and we lost power to that outlet. The living room smelled like a forest fire!

I was trying so hard not to be mad... BUT SERIOUSLY!?!?!? Twice? Come on, Brett!

the one about my super fun girls weekend

My friend Cara was invited by some friends and I was invited by Cara to attend the first annual wine tasting girls weekend in Palisade, Colorado. Cara and I rode out together. We left Saturday morning and arrived in Palisade, met up with the other 6 girls and had lunch. We hired a limo to drive us around to different vineyards and winery's. It picked us up at the hotel at 1:00. Natalie, Nan, Jeanine, Cara, me, Jen, Amber and Kim

We were able to taste, shop and tour several winery's and a brewery. It was a 4 hour tour.... a 4 hour tour. (Get it? Gilligan's island, hahaha!)
Anyway, the tour was really cool and we had a great time! We stayed at the Wine Country Inn. It was SO nice! Cara and I shared a room and it was beautiful!
We had dinner at a cute little pizza shop then everyone wanted to swim. I was so tired, so I hung out in the room that night. I hate it! I wanted to play with the girls, but I also have to respect my body. When it says slow down... I gotta listen. Anyway, we slept like LOGS that night. I guess having a bed to ourselves with no interruptions is just what we both needed! We woke up Sunday morning and first thing, took care of the most important thing you have to do in Grand Jct./Palisade this time of year.... PEACHES!! We each bought a big box of fresh peaches. YUMMY!!! After that, we headed to the mall and got school clothes. I can't believe school starts NEXT WEEK! And I really can't believe my baby will be 8 in two weeks!!!! Summer has just flown by. It seems like school just barely got out for the summer, and here I am, getting Quayd ready for 3rd grade. Anyway this girls weekend was the perfect way to say goodbye to summer. Thanks girls for the invite, and I can't wait til next year!!

the one with a helpful household tip

It's hot. Lets face it, we are in the dead of summer! I heard this little tip the other day and thought it was too good not to share. When you are running your swamp cooler 24/7 it kinda starts to get that musty smell. To get rid of that smell and also just to freshen up the smell in your house, raise one of the panels and put a capful of PineSol in there! It instantly freshens your whole house.

HOWEVER.... (you knew there would have to be a story, right???)

Don't over do it! A little goes a long way. While I was at work Saturday, Brett was cleaning the living room and decided to use this helpful tip. I am not sure how much he put in there, but he suddenly noticed bubbles blowing all over the house!!! He ran (well, limped!) outside, lifted the panel and soapy bubbles came pouring out. He had to spray out the whole swamp cooler and had quite a mess to deal with. HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa! Poor Brett!!!

the one about fruit roll-ups

Quayd left this box of mini fruit roll-ups at my work. There were two left. Earlier today, I decided to eat one. It was delicious. Later, since I had been thinking of how yummy, sweet and chewy it was ALL DAY, I decided to eat the last one. Now, I am no expert on eating fruit roll-ups, but I really thought it was pretty user friendly. Yummy green candy spread out on a thin sheet of paperey plastic. Peel and eat. Right? WRONG! I could not get the fruity divinity off of the thin papery HELL! I used my teeth, my nails, and apparently the rest of my face and tounge since it was all green by the time I gave up. I finally gave up after trying for about 20 minutes. After I finally threw it away, I realized that fruit roll-ups really arent that good afterall. Why was I so persistent on something that is not only bad for me, but BAD alltogether! I couldn't stop thinking about it all day though, just because it was right by me. And I was like a raging wolf trying to get it all off the paper and into my belly. SICK! 20 minutes of my life was wasted on this nasty green glob of papery plactic gooey chewy green MESS!!!!

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 butterfly

So I have been feling a little ill lately. I have had to stay down in bed as much as possible and Quayd has been taking very good care of me. Yesterday, my mom had picked up a few things at the store for me so I sent Quayd to pick them up. When he was walking in my back door, he noticed a little butterfly. It had flown near a spiderweb and part of its wing was stuck. It was struggling to get free. Quayd quickly brought the grocery items inside, grabbed a pair of scissors, went back outside and clipped the butterfly free. I was in bed through all of this. He came in my bedroom and told me the story. He was beaming with pride as he told me all about it and he had a tiny little tear in his eye as he said, "Mom, it made me feel so good to help that little butterfly."

How sweet is that???