I so can't believe that Christmas is over. This season went by so fast!! I am not ready for it to be over and will protest it by still playing Christmas music. :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Brian and I split up at the beginning of this month but got back together a few weeks ago. We are going to go back to counseling and really give it a good go. If it doesn't seem like things are improving after 3 or so months we will split for good.

My job is still going good. I was offered a supervisor position but will turn it down. Its a cashier job and I DO NOT want to cashier. It's like I love my position right now and I don't want to start to hate going to work, ya know? It will be a promotion obviously and about a 75 cent raise with more hours but to me it will just not be worth it.

Shiloh is getting HUGE!!! He is already 4 months old!! CRAZY!!! He is a fun little guy and he loves to snuggle. And play. And bite. And sratch. And attack our ankles as we walk by.

I know have been slacking on blogging. I have been so busy with the Christmas season that I really hae not had the time. I will get to more now that the busyness is going to wear off.

Hugs and loves!

I trust everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I had to work that day and it was sooo fun and crazy busy! We were only open for 4 hours, and I am amazed at how busy we were at Michael's.

When I got home on Thanksgiving, Brian was about to leave to go to WalMart and get in line for a big screen TV. Just when I was dozing off at around 1:30 AM, he text me and said that I need to get down there now. So I got dressed again and went down and waited in line for him while he went shopping. He was first in line to get a TV, and he didn't want to lose his place so I sat for him. Luckily for me I know people that work there because Brian does, so I had company for the time I was there. :)

After I left WalMart I went home to get the girls so we could go get free snowglobes from JCPenney. I then dropped the kidlets at home and went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and then to my work. I didn't get to sleep til about 8:30 AM and was supposed to wake up an hour later to take the kids to the parade, but missed it. I woke up at 2 PM so I could be to work at 3. I have been so tired lately.

Things haven't changed with Brian and I. It's still the same. I wish things weren't this way. I miss him like CRAZY! See... I am getting teary-eyed just thinking about it. *sigh*

I am going back to school!!! I am so excited. For now, it is to be a medical assistant, then later to be an RN. Brian and I are not doing well at all and so I want to be able to support our kids should he decide to leave. It's something that I have always wanted to do. Too bad it took something like this to get it going.

My job at Michael's is still good. I have made a lot of friends there. Yesterday, I was offered a permanent position there. YAY! Since I was only seasonal when I was hired, I was nervous they would let me go after the holidays. Apparently I am a good, hard, and fast worker. :) And apparently I talk too much when I am supposed to be working. LOL Some things you just can't help. ;)

I feel so sad when the people I know and love and care for are having a hard time right now. You know who you are and I am praying. I love you.

I feel also that Brian and I are drifting apart. I feel like we are constantly fighting about the same stuff, and it is so tiring. It makes me sad. I wish we could just work through our issues and be happy again. Will that ever happen??

I can just feel everything falling apart around me....

I cannot believe that Halloween is already over. This year is totally flying by. Even more so now that I am working.
My job is great. I really like it.

My Uncle Gene passed away on Monday morning. His funeral is Thursday and Friday. He was a great man. He was my grandma's brother.

My sister Meagan had a baby yesterday. I am not sure of she still is right now, but this morning she was in NICU for pneumonia. She is adorable. I can't meet her until we get back from down south.

I love Love LOVE this weather! It feels so fall-ish. My work has a TON of Christmas stuff out and I am going BONKERS!!! I love it!

Haylee has an appointment with her orthopedic surgeon today. I will update this entry later about that.

*UPDATE* Haylee's last appointment with her orthopedic surgeon was today. He said that she still needs to wear a brace when she does any physical activity, and today he included camping and hiking. I am in awe of Haylee. She is such a trooper. :)
He also said that her left leg would always be her weak leg, but she needs to watch out for the right knee too. He said there is a lot of fluid under her kneecap still and that it will take time for it to absorb.

Hopefully she won't have anymore problems with it, but I am not counting on that.

HAYLEE IS DONE WITH PHYSICAL THERAPY!!!!!!! I am beyond excited! She is healing at a remarkable pace. Good job Haylee!

Work is definitely getting better, finally. I am relying on my knowledge of where things are instead of asking others where something is. :)

Shiloh is such a funny kitten. Still needy. The other day, he wanted to be held and I wasn't picking him up fast enough and he clawed his way up my leg and laid in my lap. LOL And NOW he is staring to cry at the door like Belle did when I shut him out of a room (*Bathroom*) when I am in there. What a high maintenance kitten!!

Shiloh is a very clingy kitten. If I leave the room to do anything, he cries and cries until I come back. Then he is mad at me for leaving. But he doesn't stay mad for long. Belle, my cat I had for 11 years, would be mad for days. LOL But that was only if I left for more than a few hours. Shiloh sleeps on my pillow next to my face. I just love him so much already! He is an awesome little kitten.

Everything else is going good. Work, well, work is hard for me. Since I had surgery on my back, it was babied for a long time. Working is really hard on it, it's just not as healthy as it used to be. I think I may find a work at home job.

I love this cooler weather. Fall is in the air! *SIGH*

I have been asking Brian a lot lately for a new kitten. I miss my Belle like CRAZY! I can't believe he has been gone for 2 years! So Brian told me that we would talk about it later. Well before we had a chance to talk, he brought home kitten food and litter and stuff to surprise me, SOOOO.....

Here is the new addition to our family. He is currently nameless as we can't think of any names yet. Isn't he just adorable???

***UPDATE*** We named him Shiloh.

Wednesday Haylee had physical therapy again and I found out some interesting information. Knee caps that move around a lot are suseptible to dislocation. I showed her therapist my knee caps and she freaked out. Mine move around a lot too. In fact when I showed her, her words were, "OMGosh!!!!!!WOW!! So I am at risk. :( I guess it's a good thing I don't run. :)
Haylee is now walking around without her crutches!! YAY!!! I am so happy! She still uses them when we go out, but at home she is crutch free!
Work is going better, but I still wish that I already knew where everything is. I am good on the craft side of the store but on the scrapbook side... forget it. And it doesn't help that when I finally learn where something is, they move it!! I tell you they make us EARN our money! HAHA!
I was sent home yesterday because i had such a bad headache, that I was throwing up. I went to 7-11 to get some caffeine and some HUGE man asked me for the cookies in the backseat of my car!!!! He waited for me to come out of the store to ask me!! OMGosh! The nerve! HAHAHA
I started mystery shopping again, to earn extra money. Christmas is coming up!! YAY!! What a glorious thought. My favorite time of year!!! Ahhh.
I am so behind in my housework. It's so not funny! I am going to spend all day tomorrow doing it. Hopefully my kids will help. Most of the time, they don't.

Oh I love this time of year! It's so crisp and perfect outside! I can't wait for the leaves to fall. I can't wait for Halloween, the smell of fall to come. *sigh* Love it love it love it!!! What it really means is that Christmas, my favorite time of year, is just around the corner!!!!

Haylee went to physical therapy this morning. She is doing really well. She has exercises to do to strengthen her inner quad muscles so the outter quad muscles aren't over doing it which will pull her knee cap out of place again. She has to keep her brace off for the most part and start using her injured leg when she walks now. Good thing she is not in pain anymore!! :) She is such a brave girl!

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY TAWNI RAY!!! ♥♥♥♥♥We love you so much!! You are such a great daughter. I cannot wait to see what a beautiful woman you will grow up to be! ♥♥♥♥♥

Haylee had her 2nd appointment today with the Orthopedic Surgeon. The good news is her swelling went way down. The injured knee is the one on the right. (her left knee)

The bad news? When the doctor looked at the x-rays that they took today they noticed that her other knee is at risk of dislocating too. Her knees are not aligned right and so now she has to wear braces on her knees whe she does any physical activity that will put stress on her knees. If she doesn't, both knees will probably dislocate. :( They can't do anything about it now because she is still growing, but when she is finished, she will most likely need surgery on them both. She starts physical therapy too. Three times a week for 3 weeks.
OMGosh!! When the doctor was moving her knee cap around, I saw a bulge moving around on the side of her knee.... I almost threw up. LOL

Yesterday was Tawni's birthday party. She turns 13 on Wednesday. :( Here are some pics.


Tawni's cake

Tawni and her friends

Look how thick the fosting is on the cake. YUCK!

Tawni blowing out her candles

Tawni and Jaysen

Pretty Haylee

Pretty Maddy

Cousin Allie in Maddy's car

Tawni and Florencia and Hannah.

Florencia and Hannah with Maddy

Florencia and Hannah with Maddy

Tawni with cake in her hair

Haylee went back to school today. I told her that none of the kids would make fun of her for being on crutches. As soon as she walked in the door, (I went with her to carry her stuff), all the kids were HAYLEE! Haylee's back!! They were all so excited to see her! I told hr they would be, LOL! Next time she will listen to me. :)

OMGosh!! I just heard/read about some stupid teacher teaching her kids Obama Praise Songs, in which one lyric was taken from Jesus Loves The Little Children. I am beyond upset about this. Obama is going to ruin this country and he should not be praised for that!! UGH What is going to happen to this once great country???

Yesterday Haylee had her appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon. It was still so swollen. When the PA touched it she just started crying. They decided to try to drain some of the blood that was under her knee cap. They numbed her knee and took at syringe to it and pulled out about a half a cup of blood. They put her in a different brace, so she can start to move it a little. We go back next week to see if her knee is getting better. She gets x-rays then.

My job is totally KILLING my back. :( Today was my 3rd day. It wasn't so bad. In the last 2 days, I have walked about 10 hours. UGH. I am so tired and sore. I work tomorrow then have 2 days off. YAY!!

I started my job yesterday. I hated it! I didn't know where anything was. All day I had people come up to me and ask where things were and if we carried this and that and i looked like an idiot I am sure when I said I wasn't sure, so let me ask my manager. I know after I learn where everything is, it will be much better. Before this, I knew where the Crayola aisle was, and that was it.
I think Brian is in for a RUDE awakening. He wanted me to get a job because he was always so tired. With my schedule varying the way it does, he is going to get even less sleep than he did before. Does he even realize that??

Haylee has her appt tomorrow with the OS. I hope it goes well.

Tawni Ray

Tawni and Madalyn

Madalyn Paige

Princess Maddy

Princess Maddy

Maddy did my hair. She was so proud of it!

Maddy and Haylee

It must be hard work playing games on the computer!

Haylee Lyn

Tawni Ray

Maddy and Haylee in curlers

Angel Maddy

Beautiful Maddy

Maddy wrote my name for the first time! AWWW

Werewolf Maddy

Sleepy Haylee

Mummy Tawni

Beautiful Haylee... I ♥ this picture!!

Beautiful Tawni

Just an update on Haylee. She is doing well, no complaining. She is sleeping most of the time because of her pain medications. Brian came home yesterday with a Littlest Pet Shop toy which has a little pet in a cast on her leg. Isn't that just so perfect? Haylee collects LPS and so she was very pleased about her new additions. :)

This has DEFINITELY not been a good summer for sweet Haylee. Last night she was running outside and somehow she fell. She totally dislocated her knee. Her kneecap was on the side of her knee instead of on top. Brian and a few neighbor guys, much to my dismay, decided that an ambulance wasn't needed and they tried to move her into Brian's truck so we could take her in, but the second they tried lifting her she screamed. So I called 911 and got an ambulance out here and the fire truck came too. They pumped her full of morphine so they could move her into the ambulance without her hurting too much. Brian, Maddy, and I followed in our car. We went to Jordan Valley Medical Center.

They did x-rays on her and saw that it was dislocated and gave her propofol (it's nickname is Milk of Amnesia, and thanks to Michael Jackson's death, has been in the news a lot lately) to knock her out so they could pop her knee cap into place again. She was a stubborn little girl and would not go to sleep. They gave her enough that would have knocked out a 210 pound man. Everytime the doctor would come in, she would wake up and cry, well, scream, when they even touched her knee. They thought they finally got it but didn't hear the distinct pop you hear when it goes back into place and she was still unconsolable when they touched it so they ordered more x-rays. Haylee then asked if they had done the procedure yet. LOL That stuff works!! They said that the 2nd set looked almost the same as the first set of x-rays even though Haylee said it felt a little better. But still hurts her too much.

Well, the doctors are very stumped on how she got this injury because he said it was a "career ending injury that a football player would get." He said that it was more likely that she would have broken a bone than to have this injury. He also said that ligaments and tendons were probably torn which is making it impossible for the knee cap to pop back into place. So, we have to see an Orthopedic Surgeon on Tuesday. She is in a leg immobilizer right now and on narcotic painkillers.

I really hope that hospital visits are not going to be the new norm. This is hard on Haylee. :(



Her swollen knee.

Her leg brace

After trying to pop her knee cap back in.

EMT's working on her leg before loading her onto the ambulance

I am pointing to where her knee cap is. It's on the side of her knee.

Before trying to pop her knee cap back in.

Haylee's IV Bruise

Okay, I must say that Kanye West is the biggest scum to walk the Earth. 'Nuff said about him.

RIP, Mr. Patrick Swayze. I was a big fan and a lot of us will miss you.
My favorite movie of all time is The Outsiders, which he was in. Have you seen it??

I had my orientation yesterday at work, and it was 4 and a half hours long with the usual paperwork needing to be filled out. PLUS 6 or 7 videos. Oh man I hope that I can remember what they were about. LOL My first scheduled shift is Sunday. I am nervous.

I start my job tomorrow. Well it's just orientation. I hope I like it. I think I will. :)

Here are some random pics from 2009:




Tawni




Brian, Teri, and Maddy at Maddy's last day of preschool.




Maddy




Haylee and her "forever friend", Dennise.




Maddy



Our family at Hoover Dam in March 2009

Haylee in the hospital in May.



Haylee's first day of school, 5th grade.



Tawni's first day of school, 7th grade.



Maddy's first day of school, 4 year old preschool.