Thanksgiving 1 & 2

the weekend before thanksgiving we went up to the cabin in heber to have thanksgiving with all the irvine family. nana and grandpa were going to houston over thanksgiving to see aunt pam and uncle steve, so we decided to celebrate it earlier. it was so much fun we rode 4-wheelers and went sledding. we also celebrated my hubbie's 38th and my niece's 16 birthday. we left on sunday and got caught in a huge storm in heber and park city. the roads were ice and were at a standstill because of all the vehicles and semi's that were sliding. it tooks two and a half hours to get home. on thanksgiving, we were supposed to spend it with my family at my aunt and uncles but big surprise, we were sick. we ended up staying home in bed. my mom brought us by dinner, so we did get some good grub, but it was really depressing. one thing i now know is that if we ever move far away, we will definately be coming home for all the holidays, or paying for everyone to come and spend them with us. i definately can't do holidays without family!

Halloween Wrap up!!

yes I am behind, but it is not my fault. i swear my family has been sick since Oct 1 and I have been busy taking care of all of them. unfortunately i am now sick. just a bad head cold, but it still sucks!! won't be surprised if I get a sinus infection, I usually do. me and the girls all came down with colds this weekend. poor Kaylee has an ear infection too. she has all this green stuff draining out her ear. i swear she just finished antibiotics for pneumonia like a week ago. someone needs to cut my kids a break, this sick thing is getting ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! anywho, just wanted to post some picks of all our pumpkins. since we spent a lot of time at home sick, we carved, painted, glittered, and stickered our pumpkins. all the pumpkins were from our yard. we are awesome pumpkin growers!! we did have a few days here and there when we weren't sick. on one of those days we spent it up at nana and grandpa's cabin they just bought in heber. they also bought a lot of toys to go with the cabin. they got a pink razor for the girls and i must say they love it!!! kiana is a nut when she drives it and has no fear. she wants to take it as fast as it can go. i hate riding with her, she scares the crap out of me. i let her dad have the opportunity of going with her. once was enough for me!!! they also played dress up in all the cabin toys and wanted their pictures taken with boots, hats, and guns! they are so funny!!

Fall Fun

Here are some pics of some of the fun things we did before we got sick and have been stuck in our home for the past two weeks. The Halloween party was yesterday. The kids and I went, but Greg was at home sick. I am still not sick and hope it stays that way. I am the room mom for Kiana's school class and this week is Red Ribbon Week and they have their Halloween party I am in charge of on Friday. I have to much to do to be sick. Kiana finally went back to school today after being out for a week and a half with Swine Flu. Stupid Flu!!!

Sick Babies!!!

I have had influenza once, and I swore I would never let myself get it again. Anyone who has had the real Influenza bug knows how awful it is. You hurt in places you didn't even know you had, your hair even hurts!! With both Influenza and Swine flu going around, I got my kids vaccinated for both the second they were available. Unfortunately, Kiana got exposed either right before or right after her shot and caught the Swine Flu. Last Wed. she went to school and was fine until that afternoon when she called us sick at school. She had a fever of almost 104. For three days she laid in bed. We tried to keep our other girls away from her so that they would hopefully build up some antibodies and not catch it. Unfortunately, they both came down with it yesterday. Both were fine in the morning and woke up from their naps with 102 fever. I was up most of the night with both of them. Kaylee's nose kept bleeding. Her Dr. said it was from the fever and congestion. Kennedy's eye swelled up and became infected. They put her on antibiotics for that. It is surprising how well they are doing considering everything. They are at least up and around. Kiana never even got out of bed. They must have some antibodies helping them fight it. Kiana will hopefully be able to go back to school next week. I spoke with Kiana's teacher today and she told me that the two other kids that sit at Kiana's table have also been sick since last wed. and are not back yet either. My husband and I are the only two left standing, and I have a feeling it won't be for long. We couldn't get the swine flu vaccine because we were not considered high risk. I tried my best to prevent this, but it didn't work. Oh Well. We better not get the other Influenza!! If you have not vaccinated your kids for both flu shots, DO IT! It is no fun and real sad to watch your little ones so sick. You feel so helpless, because there is nothing you can do for them but try and keep them comfortable, which isn't easy when they have such high fevers and cry because their little bodies hurt everywhere. This to shall pass, hopefully sooner than later!!!!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall.

So the weather today was ridiculous. It was so cold. I think summer is officially over and Fall is here. I can't believe how fast the summer has come and gone. I just wanted to post some pictures of all the fun things we did. I also posted some more pictures of us that were taken by Greg's mom.

New Pictures!!!

So my mother in law brought me over a bunch of pictures she took of our family, and I must say they are absolutely beautiful!!! I love photography, especially when it is of my kids. I think my children are beautiful and she is such a wonderful photographer, so together they make some amazing portraits. I am probably biased, because they are my kids, but I really don't think so. HEE HEE. Photographs mean so much to me because they capture time and preserve it forever. I love watching my kids grow and I am so glad and so lucky to have these pictures that will last forever. Thanks so much Lee! We love them and love you! I am going to post a bunch tomorrow.

Life Sucks!!!(at least for the moment)

So I haven't blogged all summer and figure now is a good time to catch up. Let me fore warn those of you who are about to read this that this is not going to be a very nice post talking about how wonderful and perfect my life is, but rather a whine session. Don't get me wrong, our summer has been wonderful and has flown by, but you know the saying, "when shit hits the fan" well it has hit and hasn't stopped. Maybe tomorrow I will be in a better mood and post some wonderful pictures of all the fun things we have done, but not today. Some of you may want to stop reading here and end on a good note, those of you that choose to continue on, you have been warned. HA HA! So here goes. Greg has worked for the same Guy and Company for 13 years. This past year, he began downsizing due to the wonderful economy that has affected us all. Prior to him downsizing, he had transferred Greg to be the General Manager of a Hotel that he owned after having fired the other one due to some problems. Greg was unwillingly thrown into this position without any training or knowledge of the Hotel industry. He has been a general manager over several other companies this guy has owned, but never a hotel. When Greg took over about 2 1/2 years ago, the hotel was loosing money. They had no business, a bad reputation, and a lot of other problems. Greg taught himself everything about the industry and took the hotel from a total wreck to the top booked hotel through sites such as expedia, travelocity, etc. They were even beating the Grand America for bookings. The place was doing great and Greg grew to love his job. He said that in thirteen years of working for this guy, he finally enjoyed it. That all came to an end in July when Greg was laid off and another guy, who knew NOTHING about it was brought in to take over. Greg was devastated! I was pissed! How could this be happening? What in the hell was his boss thinking? Apparently he wasn't! His decision was based solely on the fact that he talked to the other guy on the phone more, and that's it. This guy new nothing about anything with the Hotel and even asked Greg to train him, because he was going to take over when Greg was laid off. Fat Chance in Hell! Teach yourself, just like Greg had to. We don't have any hard feelings towards the guy that took over, well at least Greg doesn't and most of the time I try not to, but I am still upset. It will probably turn out to be a blessing, but sometimes it is hard to see the positive in such a messed up situation. So anyway, after Greg was laid off, we cashed out all our stocks, Ira's, savings etc. so we would have money to live off of until Greg found another job. We just opened a car wash this past march, but it is not making enough money to support us and the other owners right now. It keeps growing and revenues increasing, I just wish it would do it faster. We also decided it would be a good idea to contact our mortgage company and let them know what had happened and see if we could get approved for the Obama plan and temporarily get our payments reduced until he found another job. We started this process the week after he was laid off, and for two months they have screwed us around. Apparently, they are not interested in helping people who make their payments on time every month, but rather the people that don't. They basically told us that they would not help us until we had missed at least three payments. WTF???? The whole reason that program was put in place was to help RESPONSIBLE people in situations like ours without it ruining your credit. After me calling them everyday for two weeks and sending them a not so nice letter, they just told me yesterday that our file has been sent to a processor and we should know within 15 days if we get approved for any of the program. The way our luck is going, I am going to bet not! So back to the end of July, I became sick with the stomach flu and decided to boil everyone's toothbrushes so they wouldn't get sick. Let me tell you from personal experience this is not a good idea!!!! I forgot they were on the stove and I was sitting on our back porch watching the kids swing, and kept hearing this annoying beeping. I sat their thinking what idiot does not realize their car alarm has been going off for forty five minutes? Well that idiot was me, and it wasn't a car alarm, it was my fire alarms. The entire house was filled with smoke, so thick you couldn't see five feet in front of you. I, being as intelligent as I am, told the kids to stay outside by the back fence as I ran into the house to open all the windows to try and get the smoke out. Needless to say, there were no toothbrushes left, only ashes, and we had to move out of our house for three weeks while they came in and cleaned everything. Word of advice, just buy new toothbrushes next time, much easier and less expensive. Greg than gets in a car accident and rear ends someone. It didn't do much to our truck, but her car was another story. Honestly, I am expecting a letter from All State any day telling us they have dropped us do to all the claims we have had in two months. We go for 7 years without any claims and then bam two big ones in one month. Just as we were beginning to think that we have had more than our share of catastrophes and they are finally over, some lunatic, jackass, and many other things that I don't want to write, punches Greg in the face for no reason!!! Most of you are probably thinking there must have been some reason, but there really wasn't. He broke Greg's jaw. We spent all Tuesday in the ER and he had surgery today. They had to put a plate in his jaw and wire his mouth shut for three weeks. After three weeks, they will take the wires off and put rubber bands on for another three weeks. Those will then be taken off but the plate is permanent. For the next three weeks he can only have liquids. The doctor said he will probably loose 15 pounds. He is laying next to me sleeping as I type this. He has been in a lot of pain today and his face just keeps swelling bigger. He has blood oozing from his mouth and he can't hardly talk. I am trying to be strong for him and assure him everything will be OK, but inside I am devastated. I cry when I watch him sleep. It kills me to see him hurting and looking like this. I hate that I have so much anger inside towards this man that did this to the love of my life. I hate that I feel like i will never be able to forgive him, but i know I need to. It makes me sick to think that people are so cruel. I don't think I will ever forget what the guy said after he did this. He said that he would never be sorry or feel bad for what he had done, Greg was just another person, and he didn't care. I can't believe that someone could have no regard for human life. Greg isn't just another person. He would do anything for anyone and he would never hurt anything or anyone. In fact, yesterday, as he was laying in bed with his broken jaw, he listed a bunch of stuff for sale on KSL for my aunt who lost her husband a month ago to cancer. Most people would have not done that, but not Greg. It didn't matter that he was in pain, someone needed help, and he could help, so he did. He is a Father and Husband, a Brother, Son and Friend. He isn't just another person, at least not to me. It is times like these that I hate and love that I have a conscience and that my parents raised me to be a good person. I hate it because I want so badly for that guy to have the shit beat out of him so he can feel the pain he has caused Greg and our family and I love it because I know that I am a better person than him and I would not and could not ever do anything like that to anyone. I guess I will have to rely on the system and hope that it does not fail and that this man will have to pay for all the medical bills and serve time. The guy was ticketed and charged with assault. We will have to go to court and I hope that they will include all our medical bills in part of his restitution. We don't have insurance and Greg was laid off. The only thing that has kept me sane, besides my anti-depressants, is our wonderful families. We love them all so much and would have never been able to get through all of this without them. I guess I am done writing. I am worn out. Tomorrow is a new day and I hope it is a little better.