A little Bit of Everything!

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So I got the pictures back the other day for Aspen's Cheerleader Squad. I was excited to see the picture of Garrett and Aspen. The photographer told Aspen to give a sassy look...well, she has that one mastered. But it definitely makes her look tougher than our football star. It rightly should! Don't mess with Aspen. I love this picture.

Other than that, nothing really new to report. Just the same busy, busy schedule. Lydia is feeling much better. No more nuts for her. (I still cant believe that I had that candy bar in my purse for her to get into in the first place!) Ian will be home in 12 days. His ship has actually pulled into Hawaii a few hours ago. He said while they were passing the USS Arizona and USS Utah he was able to take a lot of pictures. He called me from his cell phone. It was the first time in 6 1/2 months since I seen his name on my caller ID. We have been able to talk on a satellite phone most of the deployment, so that has been nice. In past deployments we didn't have the same luxury. It is starting to become more of a reality that he will be coming home soon. I am so excited. Now I just need to try to get this house a little more cleaned before he gets home. So he can think it was that way the entire time and keep that image of his 'perfect woman' in his head....yeah right!

But for now, I am going to go watch another Jane Austin movie. I have quickly become addicted to anything related with her name. Especially the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. On my netflix Que I have had a long list of classic movies rotating through my house over the last few weeks. I must be ready for my husband to come home. I cant get enough of the romance!

I Finished!

So my 6 Weeks to Hubby, I mean Kona challenge, I finished today, in just 4 weeks! YEAH!

I only wish that meant that I got my husband home sooner too. I will have to patiently wait for the next 2 weeks to pass.

At the gym today after I finished I had a huge grin on my face. I was so excited to realize that I had completed a goal that I set just 4 weeks ago. Thanks for all your encouragement. More than anything, I just feel good that I was able to finish it sooner than expected. It was a lot of fun to challenge myself everyday at the gym!

After 80 laps in the pool, I have decided that I love swimming and I will continue it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Biking 110 miles is not as hard as it may seem. And running 26.2 miles feels like a ton more when you have shin splints!

Now I need to make a new goal....Any Ideas?

One Long Weekend...

So a lot has happened this weekend. I guess that is just the theme of my life.

The biggest thing, on Saturday night we were getting home very late from the kids football game, and my purse got left out on the floor. As I was running around to try to get everyone settled in, Lydia got into my purse. I forgot that last week a friends son was selling candy bars for a fundraiser, so I said I would buy some. The problem was that all of them had nuts. So I only bought one with almonds and put it up high in my purse, thinking I would eat it that night after everyone went to bed. The flaw with my plan is that I forgot about the candy bar all together. It ended up that Lydia got into it and started eating it, before I caught her she had eaten 2 squares. I was able to pry some chunks of nuts out of her mouth, but it was still too late. Her lower half of her face, her lips and mouth all broke out with hives. I gave her Benadrly and within 20 minutes I was very surprised that she was looking a lot better. (I still have never used the Epi pen, and I am a little nervous too.) I had her sleep with me that night, which ended up being a good idea. Early Sunday morning, she started vomiting. Within a couple hours she was uncontrollably vomiting. So I called the local ER and they said to bring her in. Through examination the Dr. said that she was still having a reaction to the nuts, and would until they pass. They gave her some medicine to help the nausea, the only problem is keeping that down. She doesn't. The suppository helped though. I was able to finally leave the hospital once they felt she was doing a little better. Unfortunately that didn't last long.

She still is very sick today, and keeping nothing down. It is very sad to see how miserable she is. By later this evening if she is still not keeping anything down I think I will have to take her back to the hospital she hasn't really had a wet diaper all yesterday and so far today.

As for the first part of the weekend Saturday we had a long day of football. It was classic NW weather (Rainy Downpour), the entire game. Luckily me and the little kids kept completely dry under the covered stands. As for Garrett he was drenched, but had a great game. He made 5 great tackles an help his team win 36-12. It was a ton of fun to watch. Aspen stayed much dryer, the cheerleaders have nice rain jackets. But she still managed to get wet some.

On a side note, during a temper tantrum of Lydia's at the football game she managed to knock my camera from my hands. It dropped and now my lens can't manually be turned. I called the man at the camera repair shop, and will be taking it in when Lydia is feeling better. So I am currently without a camera. Actually I have a camera that works, just no lens. My other lens has been in the repair shop for 5 months because Nikkor keeps back ordering the part. It looks like me and "Scott" at the repair shop are quickly becoming best friends!

And to answer my husbands question "So were you that mad at our daughter that you tried to kill her with nuts?" That was his very poor attempt of a joke on a horrible situation. And my answer was "NO, I never wanted to kill her." I do recall asking someone if they thought I could donate her to charity?

One last thing, I forgot to post my Kona totals last Friday, so here goes:

Running: 16 Miles (need 26.2)
Swimming: 63 Laps (need 80)
Biking: 88 Miles (need 110)

I was on track to finish this week. Depending on how it all goes with Lydia this week we will see if I can still complete it in 4 weeks total. Either way the original goal is 6 weeks, so I feel great about my results.

My Scrapbook Creations

So I have finally taken the time to start a scrapbooking blog.

It is still in its beginning stages. But you can check it out too.

http://kim-warner.blogspot.com/

I will try to update it with some of my favorite and new projects. I will also use it as a place to apply for new design teams and contests. Anyways, let me know what you think or if you have any ideas.

Anyone who lives in the Boise Area!

The Meridian Speedway on Saturday, September 20th will be collecting donations to help the family. I just though any of you in that area might want to mark your calendars and try to attend this, I copied the post from Whitney's blog:

http://www.idahoracingnews.com/node/247

Twenty-four year old Whitney Fuller, daughter of Stan Fuller and granddaughter of the great Morrie "Fireball" Fuller http://www.ihrs.org/history/stories/fuller/photoalbum/index.htm, has been diagnosed with colon cancer.
The Fuller family has been part of racing in the Treasure Valley since 1951. Whitney has two small children and a husband in the Navy. Her husband has been flown here to be with her and they will be living with her parents for the next few months.
There will be difficult times ahead for this young family and if you wish to help them, donations will be collected Saturday night at Meridian Speedway.
The Fuller family and Meridian Speedway thank you for your generosity.

Post script:
Stan Fuller is one of the directors and founders of the Idaho Historical Racing Society. http://www.ihrs.org/ Stan does a lot for the local racing community and his family needs your help. If you can't make it to the speedway on Saturday night you could contact Steve Towrey at Print Craft in Caldwell for information on how to donate. Brent Arte would also know. Or if you email me I can steer you in the right direction. brian@idahoracingnews.com
http://meridianspeedway.com/

Footbal is Life...at least for the next couple months!

So I haven't been great about updating the football stats. I guess there is no chance of a career as a sports announcer. But I wanted to let you all know now. The Mighty Cougars (not BYU...they are far from mighty in my eyes! GO UTES!) Anyways, the Mighty Lakewood Cougar Pee Wee team you know won their first game.

Game 2 they were not so Lucky, they ended up loosing 12-19. But they played hard. They played Sedro Wooley, and this team was huge. These are 1st-3rd graders and the max weight is 120 lbs. Their star player weighed in at 119 before the game (hopefully before playoffs he eats a few too many Kids Meals!) While most of our boys are about 60-70 lbs. Our team fought hard. But the 2 touchdowns were both made by boys in our ward, we were all very excited about that.

Last Saturday we had Game 3 verses North Everett. It was a battle the entire game, and I have to admit I loved the intensity (in a Pee Wee game!). Garrett made a huge block and tackle in the first quarter. It was very exciting. At the end of 4 quarters the game was tied at 6. North Everett got he ball first and went scoreless. It was our turn, and yet again a boy from our ward was the star of this game too with another touchdown.

On a side note, the cheerleaders are getting really good to. Saturdays game, was the first time I saw the crowd really getting involved and doing the cheers with the girls too. I forgot to take the camera out of the car. So no pictures. I will have many more weeks to do that though. The next 2 weeks are away games. I am not to excited about that. But they should be nice drives, I have never been to either cities and look forward to exploring the area!

6 weeks to Kona Weekly Update

So as you may remember last Friday I told you how I started the YMCA's "6 Weeks to Kona" I am changing it to my "6 Weeks to Hubby!" Well, with how the week has gone and missing a day due to Lydia's infection, I am pleased to say that I have almost made it half way in all areas. In just two weeks, and I have taken the weekends off.

Here are my totals to date:

Swimming: 45 laps (need 80 to make 2.4 miles)
Biking: 55 miles (need 110, so I am half way exactly)
Run/Walking: 11 miles (need 26.2 miles)

I feel good about my totals. It is really an exciting challenge. My friend Janelle and I are starting to see the reality of possibly someday competing in a real mini triathlon. I just don't know about the whole bike part. As I don't own a real bike, and didn't have plans to get one. We will see, maybe someday!

Until then, it looks like I only have a couple weeks to go. I will have to do something else the last 2 weeks before Ian comes home.

Ian's First Blog

So Ian has started a blog, I wanted everyone to get a chance to see it. It made me laugh and cry to see what he has done. Take a look at it.

http://kimsmanian.blogspot.com/

Or you can click on my sidebar where it says 'Ian's First Blog"

Little Lydia...

Last night I was putting Lydia's PJ's on and notices a red bump behind her knee. With a slight touch she was in a lot of pain, so I drew with a pen a circle around it and sent her to bed. This morning the the swelling and redness had gone outside of the circle by an inch on all sides. So I got her into the Dr.'s office and yes, she does have the same MRSA infection that me and Aspen have been dealing with. MRSA is a Staff infection that is resistant to most antibiotics. So it is very hard to treat. That is why I was on IV antibiotics in June and had such a hard time getting rid of it. Since then, when either Aspen or I have gotten it, we know the signes and have caught it early. I caught it early with Lydia too, so I am hopeful that the antibiotics that she has orally will work. By saturday if I dont notice any improvment, then they will have to give her IV antibiotics. I am fairly certain, that this will work. But there is always the chance. Other than the pain it is causing her, she is doing great. When I went to check on her and tuck her in bed last night though, I couldn't resist taking a picture of what I found. This is just too cute!

6 Down, 1 To Go!

As you can see by my title...No, Ian does not get to come home early. He was recently promoted to a different job, that is requiring him to not be able to leave the ship from Hawaii. So we will now go back to the original plan and pick him up at the Pier. I have to admit, having him home those 10-12 days sooner did sound nice, but I can handle this. Heck it's been six months already... What's one more LONG month? No really these last 6 months seem to have gone by very fast, and right now I am so busy that every day is over before I know it. So I am confident that this last month will be gone before I know it (not to wish my life away). He did email me some pictures yesterday, so I thought I would share one. He must not remember how to smile...because he looks so serious in all of them, but he still looks great. I love the navy Dress Blues uniform.

Camp McLeod

Last weekend Aspen had the opportunity to attend a Girl Scout Camp. It was 3 days of fun and adventure....with a lot of silly mixed in I'm sure! She loves being a "Brownie" and is excited for the start of another year or Girl Scouting. While she was at camp, she had lots of fun learning to canoe. She also learned archery, she didn't talk about it much, so I dont know how much she liked that. But I love the pictures. I asked her why she was wearing shorts over pants....and she said without a though, "they told us to dress in layers, because it was going to get cold that night." I am thankful to get pictures from it, as I was not there. Thanks to her GREAT leaders for all they do for the troop!

6 Weeks to Kona!

My local YMCA is sponsoring and event called "6 Weeks to Kona" Kona is the world series of Ironman Triathlons. It will be held this October in Hawaii. My friend Jannelle was the first one to tell me about it, and I was immediately excited about it. What it is, is you have 6 weeks to complete what they will be doing at the actual event. It sounded like a good challenge.

In total I will have to:
*Swim 2.4 miles (80 laps in the pool, 1 lap is back and forth across the pool)
*Bike 110 miles (It can be done on a stationary bike.)
*Run/Walk 26.2 Miles (I am going to try to do most this at nights when I am at the High School track when Garrett is at football practice and Aspen at cheer practice)

It is all in fun, and really I just thought it would be a great way to get back into my workout routine. (Plus I will get a cool T shirt when I complete it!)

I got sick in June. I didn't post about it, but I had Facial Cellulitis it was a MRSA infection. It was really bad and I ended up needing IV antibiotics every 12 hours to finally treat it. So that took quite some time to recover from. Then I was in Idaho for practically the whole month of July. Which by the way Aspen ended up with the same infection 3 times with while we were there. And once I returned from Idaho, I got the same infection again. This time I caught it a lot sooner, and had a much quicker recovery. So now for the last couple weeks I have been getting back into my old routines. And this challenge has helped encouraged me to get to the gym every day this week. (Starting Tuesday when the kids started school.)

So here are my totals for the week:
*Swimming: 23 laps (I don't think I ever swam before this. Now I love it. I will be keeping this up!)
*Biking: 27 miles
*Running/Walking: 3 Miles

I also have an added benefit to doing this now. This is the last 6 weeks of Ian's deployment, so the timing is perfect. But there is a chance he may be coming home a couple weeks early. (He is on the list as one of the Sailors flying home from Hawaii) YEAH! But I am not holding my breath until I know he is in the air. This is still the military we are talking about. Either way, I am actually trying to get this done in less than the 6 weeks, I just want to go as fast as I can. To make it more of a challenge.

Wish me luck, and hope I don't 'Break a Leg!'

First Day of School!

Tuesday was the Kids first day back at school. Garrett started 3rd Grade and is attending a new school. Here K-2nd is in one elementary, and 3rd-5th in another. I think it is great to divide them up like that, but I am new to the whole getting the kids on and off the bus at different times. So far I like it though. It gives us a little one on one time after school to talk about the day and have snacks together. Aspen started 2nd grade. And I am sorry to report had her first call home from school today (the 2nd day of school)!! She struggles with learning, she always has. She was having a hard time with the lesson, and then let herself get too frustrated. So then she didn't even want to try. The teacher asked me to talk to her about just trying to see if she can do it. We will have to see how it goes. Either way I am excited. It gives me a little more 'free' time. I will write more about what I am up to in my next Blog entry. It is definitely a challenge! More on that tomorrow though. For now I need to go get some dishes done.

Outside his school! He had to wear his new coat, even though it was a warm day! He picked it out this year.... a hunting coat, if you couldn't tell. (His dad will be proud!)

In his new class..he's growing up too fast.

Outside her school, notice the backpack matches the shirt. When she picked it out (because it matches) I asked her, "You know you wont be wearing that same shirt every day right?" But she quickly said she will be some of the time. So she had to have it!

In her class, ready to take on the World!

Why is life so busy?

It is after 1:00 in the morning. And yet again I am still awake. I really need to get some sleep, but I can't stop thinking about something. I feel like I want to be a good person. I want my house to be clean. I want my kids to be healthy, happy and good. I want to scrapbook. I want to do so many things. But are these 'things' really all that important? Yes they are, but there are so many other things that are MORE important. Over the last couple weeks. I have learned that another mom in my ward has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, it is incurable. She is only 24, her husband was deployed with the same battle group as Ian's and she has 2 children, about Lydia and Tilden's same ages. She is now living in Boise to be close to family through this all. If you would like to read more, she updates her blog regularly. Though it is hard to read at times. You can use the link on my page.

"The Dows"

I wish that I had been a better friend to her while she was here. So many times we said we should get the kids together to play...but life was too 'busy' and I never planned anything. That takes me back to the though of what am I making my life so busy with and is it really that important. I want to remember everyday to pray to God to guide me as to what is important that day. I hope we can all be better tomorrow then we were today. Please also add Whitney and her family to your prayers.