Farewell to Cheryl

A bunch of us got together to saw goodbye to Cheryl. We met at Red Robin and ate and talked for several hours. Here are some pictures of some of us:

Of course on the way home, I had a little accident. Just before I turn onto my street, a dog ran out in front of my car. Even stomping on my brakes I was unable to avoid hitting him. Luckily (for him), he got up and walked away unhurt. Unfortunately (for me), I got a huge dent in my front bumper. What a bummer :(

Couch Pillows

I have been trying to find good pillows for my couch and I have had to take a lot of pillows back to stores. I think I have found the right ones. Tell me if you like them.

Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent at my house with what is becoming a tradition -- an appetizer dinner. When it is just Christian, my parents, and I, we have had a dinner made of appetizers and then play games. I actually had a lot of fun making all the appetizers for the dinner. Dad enjoyed the Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies. Christian listened to his music while playing since he has decided he doesn't like Christmas music.

Christmas morning was nice and slow. It was just Christian and me. Christian had a couple of surprises. The first one was when he opened his Playstation 2. He got a wonderous expression on his face and said "I didn't expect this. You told me a wouldn't get it." Then he opened the last present and exclaimed, "I wrapped this -- I wrapped my own Christmas present." This is what happened. I went shopping with Cheryl. When I got home I honked the car horn for Christian to help bring in the bags like usual -- forgetting there were Christmas presents in it. Of course, Christian saw the PS2 games. So...I had him wrap the PS2 games for the Livingston kids. I even took the presents to be mailed. Then I switched the tags and placed it under the tree with Christian none the wiser. It made for a priceless moment.

Then we just played and watched movies for a while. Around three we went out to my folks house. We watched Kung Fu Panda, one of Christian's new movies. It was actually pretty good. Right when it was over, Cheryl's family got there. We had dinner and then unwrapped more presents.

I had fun 'spoiling' Cheryl's kids. I had to get Addie some Strawberry Milk mix. She loves to come to my house and drink strawberry milk -- she only gets it at my house. So I had to make sure she had strawberry milk in her new house.

One of the best moments was when Brayden and Cambrie opened a waffle iron my parents got the whole family. They both got very excited and then Cambrie lifted it over her head like it was a trophy. It was awesome. Also, Santa left a letter for the Gibsons saying he had gotten a little confused about where to leave presents --their Tolleson house, Aunt Tanya's house, their Farmington house, or Ben's family's house in Saint David -- therefore he had left a bag of presents in Grandma house in a closet since they would be there sometime. The kids had to go around to all the closets to find Santa's bag.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. I hope everyone else's Christmas was merry as well.

My CPAP Machine

I finally got my CPAP machine the week before Christmas. Boy do I feel different. I am finally able to start taking an interest in things again -- things like cooking, having parties, singing, etc. It is great to finally have energy again :)

When I saw my doctor before I got my machine I found out that I was having 130 apeanas an hour. Plus, I had no deep sleep or REM sleep and I was not getting enough oxygen. No wonder I was so tired and had trouble breathing.

This is what my machine looks like. The clear mask goes over my nose. I have to breathe through my nose and basically sleep on my back since my mask likes to leak slightly when I go on my side. But I love it because it lets me sleep :)

Setting Up for Christmas

Cheryl and her kids moved into my house once Ben moved up to Utah. It has been nice. Here are some pictures of all of us decorating for Christmas. I had gotten a new tree a couple of weeks ago -- a prelit one, yeah!

Here is our snowman display -- a winter wonderland.

Cambrie and Addie enjoyed my Christmas animals that sing and dance.

Thanksgiving and Christmas in One Weekend

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. We all went to my parents' house just like always. My sister from California had a close call of not coming -- they had all been sick with the flu. Luckily, they got better and were able to come. The cousins all enjoyed playing with each other.

Christian decided to practice tennis on my folks' back porch.

After dinner came the fun part -- at least for me. Looking at the ads for Black Friday. My sister Cheryl and I always go together. That is something that I am going to miss when she moves. Hopefully she'll come back for Thanksgiving and we can still shop.

Cheryl and I were up at 4:30 and done with WalMart and Target by 6:30. We separated then. My favorite purchase was my new washer and dryer. Sears had a great deal on the pair where I basically paid for the washer and got the dryer thrown in. Unfortunately, it was such a great deal that a lot of other people also got it and I won't get mine until the end of January :(

Friday afternoon all of us girls got together and went to see the new movie, Twilight. It was very good. I'm glad I read the book first because then I got some of the parts that others might not of.

Saturday was our annual Christmas Family Get Together. We had pizza, salad, and a Chocolate Extravaganza. (Everyone brought one chocolate item to share.) Before eating we had a remote control car race and shot off rockets. (We did this last year and loved it...so we did it again.)

Mom and Dad didn't drive the cars very well.

Addie is such a cutie :)

Sierra, Addie, and Maria.

After dinner and our Chocolate Extravaganza we had skits. Each family had to include a famous quote and a character from a fairy tale, movie, etc. They were really cute.

We ended the night with hot chocolate, popcorn, and the movie 'Elf' on my parents' back porch.

Thanksgiving

A time for thanks. I decided to steal my mother's idea and list what I am thankful for. First, I have all the usual things that I am thankful for:

• The gospel -- I get a lot of strength by living the gospel. Plus, I have a whole extended family through the ward that cares about me and my son.

• My family -- My wonderful son is the most important person in my life. He brings such joy in my life as I watch him grow up and find his way in life.

• My sisters -- I have three wonderful sisters. I love to spend time with them. We have such wonderful talks and enjoy spending time together. I love having my youngest sister right down the street from me -- at least for a few more days until she moves to Utah :(
  
• My brother -- My brother and I were the best of friends as we were growing up. I loved spending time with his friends rather than mine -- at least that's what I remember.
  
• My neices and nephews -- I love to spend time with my nieces and nephews. I tell them stories, play games with them, talk about books, and spoil them rotten when I can. (The picture is only a few of them -- I have 20.)
• My house -- I have enjoyed decorating my house and finding the best place to put everything.
• My yard -- I finally got my backyard landscaped and I love it.
• My job -- I am so thankful to have a job that I love doing. I enjoy children's literature and helping students come to love it too.

Now time for all the little things I am thankful for:

• low cost of gas right now
• soft ice cream
• a night sky full of stars
• soft green grass to lay on
• all the colors, especially purple
• sweet smelling flowers
• new books -- especially ones you can't put down
• smiles
• hugs
• chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate
• dishwashers...so I don't have to wash dishes by hand
• coupons
• Chuck, 24, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Stargate Atlantis, Numbers
• Friends, Lois and Clark, Beauty and the Beast, Star Trek Voyager, MASH
• soft pillows
• warm blankets for cold rainy days
• a porch swing
• a cool car that I can put a lot of stuff in
• holidays where I don't have to go to school

Okay -- I'll stop listing things so I can go have fun with my family.

Sleep Test

Last night I had my sleep test. Talk about an experience! Once I get there and answer a bunch of questions (in my nightgown no less), I then get hooked up everwhere. They put sensors on my legs and chest. But the really fun place is all over my face and hair. And then they tape the wires down. I also got two sensors in/around my nose -- one to test the air pressure and the other to test the air temperature. Finally, the REALLY fun part. I move to the bed and try to lay down on it with all the wires and not get tripped up.

I read for about 15 minutes and then tried to sleep. It seemed like I just couldn't get to sleep. They asked that I sleep on my back since the apenas are stronger then. I don't like sleeping on my back :( Finally I turn to my side and try -- that doesn't work so I go back to laying on my back. After several of this back and forth and I know it has been a while, the technician comes in. When I said hello he told me that I had sleep apena and he processed to hook me up to a CPAP machine. I found out it was already 12:30.

A hose is connected to the machine and a nose mask. The mask goes over my nose and I am told to breathe only through my nose. Talk about panic! It felt a little like it does when I put my mask on to scuba dive. I knew this was going to be difficult. Sure enough, I start to cough and find it hard to breathe. I had to take deep breathes and calm down. Then I could breathe better and fell asleep. Next thing I remember the technician was waking my up again and it was 7:00. It turns out that I was waking up about every 45 seconds. No wonder it seemed like I never went to sleep.

Now I just have to wait to talk to the doctor on the 1st and then maybe all this tiredness will start to go away. I am just soooo happy to finally know what has caused my extreme tiredness for the last year or so.

Freezer Meltdown

My freezer went on the fritz a few days ago. Luckily we were able to save almost everything -- only lost the ice cream :( and the juices. So I spent today shopping for a new freezer. Thanks Mom for helping!

Coupons Galore

Today I got my first set of coupons from Sunday's papers. I have seen what Cheryl has done with her coupons and decided that I need to give it a try. Soooo...I have started getting the Sunday paper. (By the way, Maria the Zits cartoon was awesome and reminded me of Christian and I.)

I will have to see what will happen with all my coupon savings. Hopefully, I do as well as Cheryl. Although I am sure it will take a few weeks to really start saving since I have to get a bunch of coupons first.

Night in the ER

Last night was an interesting one. My mom has been watching Cheryl's kids while Cheryl and Ben were on vacation. Well, I get a call around 5:30 from my Mom saying that she thinks Addie has broken her collarbone. Thus started our adventure.

Christian and I quickly got to Cheryl's house. Christian stayed with Brayden and Cambrie and Mom and I took Addie to Good Night Pediatrics. They were afraid she might have dislocated her shoulder and sent us to Banner Thunderbird.

Poor Addie was crying because her shoulder hurt soooo much. But she was also pretty brave. When she was able to lay still she would be okay. The doctors and nurses were all so careful with her -- they didn't want to hurt her more than she already was. It ended up that she had broken her clavacle. They wrapped her shoulder up and put her arm in a sling (one with different color bears on it). She also got a soft polar bear to keep. Then we were finally able to take her home -- at 10:30.

Poor Cheryl had to deal with all of this long distance through phone calls. Addie was very glad to see her mom and dad this morning. Cheryl and Ben were glad to see her too.

Practice Date

Yesterday Christian took me on his practice date. This is where I check to see if he knows how to treat a girl on a date. He had to ring the doorbell and wait while I finished putting my jewelry on. Too bad I didn't have my dad here to question him. He would have LOVED that :)

We went to see the movie 'City of Ember'. He even bought me popcorn. Good job Christian :) When he was all done with the practice date, he told me it was the most embarrassing moment of his life. Of course if he knew I was telling everyone about this, he wouldn't be too happy with me. But I think it is cute.

Getting on Board

Almost everyone I know is doing a blog, so I guess I will get on board. I will warn everyone that I won't post everyday, but I'll try to post at least weekly. See you soon :)