Lovin' it!

Could today be any prettier? Well, only in one of two ways: If there was a blizzard outside (can't get enough snow!) or if the grass was green and the trees were blossoming! The only down side to the latter option is that it means the summer of pure torturous heat was coming next. In the mean time, I'll enjoy this gorgeous sun and go for a run. Didn't mean to rhyme folks! Oh, and it looks like we'll be blessed with another day like this tomorrow and most of next week, then the snow can come back.

Joseph and Jessica

One of my younger brothers got married on Friday. It was beautiful. I only brought the camera to the reception and I unfortunately only took one picture. Typical...
Anyway, I just am so excited about how Emily's hair turned out. I had never tried anything like this before and I was so tickled that it worked. First, the pics of her hair (and extreme cuteness) and then the last picture is of me and our kids with a few of my brothers. The one I am standing closest to was the one who got married.











It was so nice to have nearly all of my siblings (8 out of 10) together again. We sure missed the others though. Congratulations to Joseph and Jessica!

She's got...personality

Zack and I are so in love with our little girl. It is so fun to see how some personality traits do, indeed, come with them from the pre-existence.



On Wednesday morning, Emily was being unusually quiet in the TV room. As I walked from the office to the kitchen area, she yelled out, "Noffing, Mommy!" Hmmmm, if I didn't know better...she did this each time I walked through the room. Finally, I investigated - she was putting chapstick all over Cinderella - on the TV screen.

Another example is the other day we were at my in-laws house. I took Emily downstairs to clean up the toys she had played with. Scotty came too and he help get his stuff cleaned up. I had thought that his good example would help Emily, but she went nuts. I was mortified at the fit she threw. All over a few toys. It was so "cute" to see her cry huge tears for the sympathy then sigh a huge sigh when it didn't work on me. Then she'd fold her arms, turned her back, and silently ignored me. She is barely 2 1/2! She is such a girl and we are in such trouble!

There have been so many "girly" things that she has done that I can't figure out where she learned them from. It's so fun to see her grow!

As difficult as she can be, I still love everything about her! She is such a miracle to us...

On a side note, I am bored out of my mind right now...since I can't travel at the moment, I am inviting anyone who'd like to to come visit us and our amazingly beautiful state.

Brussel Sprouts

Yuck! Bitter! Nasty! Vomitatious!

Until now...a friend of mine suggested I try them sauteed and I found this recipe. I cannot believe how tasty these are. It's a miracle. Mmmmmmmmm-mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Zack's personal chauffeurs

Talking about what happened is just fine. Thinking about what happened when I am all alone is another thing.



On Sunday night, we went to bed before midnight. Zack got up around 4 o'clock in the morning to use the restroom and then got back in bed. The next thing I knew, it was 6 o'clock am and I was staring at the ceiling wondering why I was awake. I wasn't tired so I just lay there looking at our bedroom windows. All of a sudden Zack let out a loud, painful sounding growl. I called to him but he didn't respond. He immediately began to have a grand mal seizure. You know, the kind where they shake and bounce all over the place. I flipped the light on and futilely tried to get him to snap out of it. I grabbed the phone off my dresser and called 911.


I have had so many dreams where 911 has put me on hold and I desperately hoped that wouldn't happen. As I tried to tell them our address and what was going on, I was shaking like a leaf trying to get Zack to wake up. He continued to seize for at least 20 seconds, which seemed like forever. Finally, he stopped.


The woman (my personal angel) told me to put the phone down and roll him over. I finally was able to get him on his back but he still wouldn't regain consciousness. At least he was breathing, though it was ragged and weird sounding. He was asleep! The nerve ;) I grabbed my robe and ran down to open our door so the paramedics could just run upstairs when they got there. They are 1 mile up the street and it only took 2 1/2 minutes for them to arrive. Let me tell you, that is an eternity with something like this.


Once they arrived, they tried to get him to wake up and took his vitals. Still no response from Zack with the exception that he would open his eyes for a second when they would call him by name loudly. They told me that they would take him to the AF hospital and that I should meet them there. They brought up a special chair with straps to take him down the stairs - another reason why I want a rambler! Anyway, they had to revive him a little to get him to be upright in the chair. They called him again and he started to look around. It seemed to kind of freak him out that there were 8 uniformed men in our bedroom. They told him why they were there and then he immediately fell asleep again. They brought him down the stairs, put him on the gurney, and then rushed him out the door.


A few of our neighbors were there by the time they took Zack out and the 911 dispatcher had called my parents so that they could come help me with the kids. We had a great deal of support which I will be forever grateful for.


I drove to the hospital all the while having a nice, long begging session with the Lord. The hospital let me right in to see Zack and he was still really out of it. My dad showed up and then about 15 minutes later, our home teacher arrived. They gave Zack a blessing and I finally began to relax. The ER doctor diagnosed him with a seizure. Wow...really? You think?


It was about noon by the time we got home and he slept nearly the entire day and all through the night. He actually went to work the next day. Man, that's so not me...I'd milk it for all it was worth! He had a CT scan which was normal, and just had an MRI done yesterday and plans on having an EEG on Tuesday. Next Wednesday he will see a neurologist which I predict will diagnose him with Epilepsy. For a few years, he has had weird "dizzy spells" which, if I am right, are actually mini seizures called "Aura"s .


In a way, I hope that this is epilepsy. It's treatable with medication...otherwise, if it's not, then we are back at square one. The only physical thing that you can see that says something happened to Zack is that he now has red stripes on his shoulders and chest where the straps from the special chair held him in. It's a little weird for Zack for sure. All he remembers is going to bed after using the bathroom and then he was waking up in the ambulance.



Oh, here's a little tidbit for all you sports fans...The ER doctor, his little brother is Steve Young.

While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads

And by sugar plums, I really mean chocolate!

I love to cook and bake the entire holiday season. Candies, breads, cookies, and most importantly, hand dipped chocolates!!! I guess it's a good thing I didn't join the BR Biggest Loser this year! Starting today, I plan on making...

4 batches lollipops, cherry & raspberry Done

3 batches pistachio cranberry biscotti drizzled with white chocolate Done

2 batches pecan pralines Done

1 batch coconut dipped chocolates

1 batch butter rum dipped chocolate - Zack's favorite Done

1 batch lime dipped chocolates - white chocolates Done

1 batch raspberry dipped chocolates

1 batch caramel nut dipped chocolates

1 batch mint dipped chocolates

2 batches peanut butter fudge Done

1 batch chocolate fudge Done

2 loaves cinnamon raisin bread Done

2 loaves white bread Done

4 batches caramel chocolate popcorn - thank you, Gina!

2 batches English toffee

And plenty of these for Zack and me with the left over chocolate.



Oh man, I am crazy to try all of this. We're still having to show the house, too! I am going to end up in the looney bin considering Christmas is a mere 9 days away. Plus, I think I broke my elbow.

And have a bruised nose.

He Does Exist!!

Tonight, for his Young Men's activity, Zachary went swimming at the Legacy Center. He had a great time until they went into the locker room. That's when he discovered that there really are Grade A jerks in this world. Someone stole all of his clothes. Pants, shirt, socks, boots, coat, his watch, even his underwear. He had to run barefoot through the snow and ice wearing just a bathing suit and a cold, wet towel to get to their cars. It is so bitterly cold tonight, too.

I felt so badly for him. I am upset about the loss of the clothes, but even more, I am sad for his realization that there really is evil in this world. He was so sad. Stuff like that can always be replaced, but not his childhood innocence. Maybe this will be a good experience for him, maybe he'll learn more about forgiveness and compassion.

I guess, the only way I can make myself feel any better is to convince myself that whoever stole them must have needed them more than he did. Yeah, sure....

Journal Entries

I have to write this stuff down before I forget - which will happen.


On Sunday, a friend was telling a story about something that had happened to Zacky at their house. He was over playing with their kids and he was trying to clean up a large box of Lego's. As he was trying to put the box back into it's cubby, it would not go in all of the way. So, he tried to shove it in harder......nothing, harder.....nothing. On his last attempt, he pushed it in really hard. There erupted a loud Reeeeeeeear! and out shot the family cat. Apparently, he had been trying to snooze in the dark cubby.


The other night, Mikey was playing with Scotty up in Scotty's bedroom. Mikey tried to shut Scotty's closet door really fast. We heard a slam, then a deep, Barry White sounding scream, then Mikey came flying down the stairs and landed on his knees sobbing. He had pinched his thumb in the accordion style closet door. I have never seen a blood blister that large. It was huge!!! We always know that if Mikey is crying, it's something serious. Neither him nor Scotty ever complain of pain. Such examples would be: Scotty having his broken arm for a week before we took him in and this past week he had TWO ear infections, with barely a mention that his ear would hurt when he put his finger in it. I only had him checked after Emily had her ear infection. Oh, and this is our 5th ear infection with all of our kids. Sweeeeeet!

Just FYI

I have finally discovered my favorite place to shop for clothes. Has anyone ever been to Christopher & Banks? I have never had clothes fit me so comfortably without looking like a mu mu. They have very classic (very feminine) styles and I normally would freak out about their prices (I am so cheap!), but with their sales, I just can't help myself. I only go when they have their "40% off everything in the store or online sales" or when it's their "Buy one get one free" sale. I love that place!!!

I recently found this, this, and I really want this just to name a few...

This post seems very familiar. Maybe I've put in a shameless plug for them before, but I am too tired to search for it, so sorry if this is a rerun.

High Anxiety!

Right now I am so stressed out. We are still trying to sell the house and the holidays are here. Our neighbors finally sold their house but they let it go for about $24,000 less than it was worth. This makes it even more difficult for us to sell because now we seem really over priced. Dang it!

There are so many other things adding to our stress and Zack and I are both suffering from extreme symptoms of anxiety/panic attacks. We have narrowed down Zack's "dizzy spells" to his most stressful moments and are assuming that they are stress related. For me, I have been having severe asthma attacks, that have been nearly crippling and the inhaler barely seems to help me. It's odd, but my asthma isn't nearly as bad when Zack is with me. He is my medicine ;) Even now, as I sit here typing, it is driving me crazy to look at the keyboard, the "G" button looks too small in comparison to the others....grrrrrr. I am not even including the stress of what Washington is doing to our country - that's a whole other post!

I have no idea how to de-stress myself and calm down except to ask for a blessing from Zack and our home teacher later on today.

Other than that, we are all healthy enough, happy enough, and are loving the fall/winter and the holidays. The boys' Primary Program is today and I am excited to see them perform. I also cannot wait to eat, eat, eat for the entire weekend of Thanksgiving.

Just FYI, the lady is breathing into the bag, not puking into it.