Burn baby Burn!

I think it got a little hot!

What a Day!

This has been quite the Saturday! After getting up and ready and doing a few chores around the house, we loaded the kids and headed to my parents house. We found a screw in our van tire the other day and my dad said he could fix it, so we went out there to take him up on his offer. When we got there, he invited us to go to a carnival at the Rio Tinto stadium with them after he fixed our tire. Of course we said yes, so after lunch and a fixed tire, we headed over. We decided to park at the Mt. Jordan middle school parking lot because it was free, so we made the long, hot walk to the carnival, which was a lot of fun! I was surprised that all my kids did so well! I even took EmmaLee on a little roller coaster, the ferris wheel, and she went with Isaac on a little car thing! Because it was so hot, there was hardly anyone there, so we didn't waste any time in lines or anything! We had been there about 2 1/2 hours when we decided we were done, so we started walking back to our cars. My kids we tired and hot, and the long walk back took almost everything out of them. We finally found some shade on the other side of the school, so Rob and my younger brother and sister stayed with my kids while my dad and I went to get our cars. We got to the parking lot, but my dad's car wasn't where we thought is was suppose to be. We thought that maybe we were wrong about where he had parked it, so we wondered the parking lot looking for it, which didn't take long because it's not that big of a parking lot, and it wasn't very full. We were kind of laughing at the idea that somebody must have stolen it because for those of you who don't know, my dad is good with cars, so my whole life he has always bought old, used cars that he fixes up until they literally are beyond any kind of mechanical help. The car we were looking for today was a bright teal 1984 Ford Festiva. We couldn't understand why someone would steal it! But, we figured that must have been what happened because it was not in the parking lot! I made my dad call my mom just to make sure before we called the police she hadn't for some random reason come and picked it up. So, my dad was talking to my mom, who had not come to get the car, when he suddenly asked me if he had been parked right next to me, to which I said I thought he had been. He told me to look at that parking space, and it was all black, with little blackened debris all around. Had his car caught on fire?! My dad started to mention that we had been parked right by each other, so if his car had caught on fire, wouldn't my car have been damaged as well? Right before he finished his sentence, we saw my rear bumper and tail light and saw that they were melted! I haven't mentioned this yet, but what makes this even more salt on the woundish is that we have a new van that we haven't even had for a month yet! I don't think I've said this yet, but we have taken out bankruptcy, and one thing that happened when we did this is that we lost our other van. A lot of times you are able to keep your cars in a bankruptcy through what is called a reafirmed loan. We were planning on doing that, but we found out that the lender we had the loan through, who is also who we had a couple of credit cards through, wouldn't let us reafirm that loan without reafirming all our loans, which would have made bankruptcy pretty much pointless, since we owed the most money to this lender. So, we voluntarily gave up our van. We cannot legally fit all three of our kids into our Geo Prism, so we figured we needed a family car still, so Rob's mom very kindly helped us get a new van. She took a loan out for a new van, so we are just making payments to her until our bankruptcy is over and we are able to get a loan in our names. Because we are hoping to use this van for a very long time, we got a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country, which ironically is pretty much the exact same payment as our old 2000 Toyota Sienna. So, like I said, we haven't even had this van for a month, and now the rear bumper and tail light are totally melted! Anyway, back to today's story! So, we realized after seeing my car that my dad's must have caught on fire and burned, but where was it now? So, we called the police station and told them where we were and what we thought had happened, and sure enough, she said they had gone to a vehicle fire at that location earlier in the day, and she gave me the name and number of the auto body shop they had taken my dad's car. I guess they had tried to call my parents house, but nobody had answered, so they left a message. So, luckily, our van is still totally driveable, so we all loaded into it, and drove to the body shop, which was closed and told us we would have to come back on Monday to see the car, so we don't even know what it looks like yet! We also finally found a police report under our windshield, which had the time of 2:45 on it. We had arrived there at 2:00, so the fire must have happened right after we got there! All that commotion it must have caused while we were blissfully enjoying the carnival, completely unaware that one of our cars was going up in a major fire, and the other was getting melted right next to it! Crazy! And, to have to get to the parking lot and have figure it all out ourselves was just weird! I talked to my dad tonight and he was talking about how he didn't loose a dime in that car. He bought it like 4 years ago for $700, put 50,000 miles on it, which he figured cost him 1 cent a mile to own and drive it. He thinks it was well worth it! I just laughed! So, if I can, I'll have to get pictures of it and post them just to show what it looks like now. It made for quite the day! Oh, and luckily my parents do have insurance, so we will be getting our car fixed. What amazes me about our car as well is that it wasn't more damaged! There is about a foot of body of the car between the bumper and the rear light that doesn't even looked touched, yet the light and bumper are melted! I'll have to take some pictures of it and post it as well, as soon as I figure out how! Why do weird and crazy things always happen to us?!

1st day of Kindergarten!

I can't believe I'm writing this, but I just got back from dropping Eden off from her first day of kindergarten!!! I'm not as emotional as I thought I would be, but it's probably because I haven't had time to think much about it! It has been a busy week! We packed up this last weekend, and on Monday, we moved in with Rob's mom. We spent most of yesterday unpacking some stuff and trying to get slightly organized, and Eden started this morning! She is actually in year round and should have started on July 20, but obviously we weren't here yet, and since the school we were living by is traditional, she couldn't start there. So, I saw her teacher a few weeks ago and got some homework for her to work on so she wouldn't be so far behind, and this morning, Eden and I went to school! We got there about 10 minutes early, so she got to play on the playground for a bit, which she was at first "too shy" to do, but decided after about 30 seconds, she was "braver" and went and played! When the bell rang, it took us a few minutes to find her class, which I found as they were going in, so she was the last one in, but I was able to talk to the teacher and introduce Eden to her. We talked about where to go so I could pick her up after school, and without a backwards glance, she went to class! I hope she is doing good! She has been nervous since last night saying she didn't want to go, and she was a mix this morning of being okay and not being okay. Once we were there, though, I think she was good, but I can't help but worry a bit until I see her again! I so want her to have a good school experience, especially in these early years! We haven't been able to send her to pre-school, so besides church, she really hasn't had any classroom experience! Plus, she is one of the youngest in her class; in fact, if she had lived here when school started, she would have still been 4 for the first few weeks!!! But, she is smart, and before we moved, all her friends were between 3 to 4 years older than her, so she seems very mature for her age. Anyway, there's nothing like jumping right into a whole bunch of life changes all at once!!! So, even though we moved, I will still be commuting twice a week to my job at the pool, on Thursdays and Saturdays, at least until we can find something closer to us here. I did find one job I am going to apply for here, but that will be something we start really focusing on here once we are a little more settled. One step at a time!

Exciting News!

I am very happy to finally have something happy to say, even if it doesn't have to do with me, exactly. My sister Melanie is getting married! Last night her boyfriend, Danny Isaac, proposed to her, and she said yes! They will be getting married on October 9 at the Salt Lake temple, and I am so excited for her! Danny's a great guy, and they have known each other for around 4 years now. They dated in high school, and for the last two years Danny has been on a mission. They wrote consistently while he was gone, and he got back mid-June. They have been dating since, and now they are getting married! It's funny because Danny's last name is Isaac, and when I tried to tell my Isaac that Melanie's last name was going to be Isaac, he was kind of upset and said, "I'm Isaac!" He seems to be okay with it today, though, so I think he'll get through it okay! EmmaLee can already say an adorable "Uncle Danny", so I think it's safe to say we are all excited for this occasion!

Rock Bottom

I debated even posting because I didn't want it to be all negative, but I also feel like I need to express myself somewhere! About 2 weeks ago both Rob and I had job interviews; Rob for a graphic design job in Provo, and me for a receptionist job at the state capital (which is a beautiful building!!). Both our interviews went well, and we were hoping one or the other might work out, but two days ago Rob got a call from his saying they had filled it with somebody else, and yesterday I got a letter from the capital saying the same. So, I guess neither of those were it! This could change, as our plans have changed at least three times in the last month, but for now we are planning on moving into Rob's mom's house sometime in August. Rob will hopefully be starting school at Weber at the end of August, and I will continue working at the Mt. Jordan swimming pool two nights a week. We will be looking for some kind of job closer to Clearfield, but as we have already looked before and not had luck, until we actually are able to get one, I'm not giving up what I do have. I hate to admit this, but we are also going to be taking out bankruptcy. We met with a finacial couselor and she said that this was probably our best option; I cried. But, after my first bitter cry about it, Rob and I have come to realize that it is actually going to be a very stress relieving thing for us. I guess you know you are in bad shape when there really is no negative to taking out bankruptcy. The worst part is how it will affect our credit, but even if we don't take it out, our credit is still shot, so it doesn't really matter! And, this way we will actually be able to recover in a shorter amount of years than not doing it. Sad, I know, but I'm actually extremely grateful this is even an option for us. We will be able to be far more self-reliant after our bankruptcy than we are now. So, there is our current situation. It sucks, but actually has a silver lining now more than it did a week ago, so I guess we'll take what we can!

My hives are gone, and so is my laptop

So, my hives are gone and I am feeling much better, but my laptop is gone as well, at least in functionality! It totally crashed last week, taking with it all my pictures from the last 9 months! I am so bummed! I'm still holding onto a hope that we might be able to get it fixed or at least recover out stuff from it, but unfortunatly, it will cost money to find out, which we don't have right now. Does anybody have any suggestions or had this happen to you? Should I have any hope for my laptop or the information on it?
Besides that, life is all right. Rob and I are currently trying to make some big decisions for our life right now, but it's hard to make because all of our choices depend on other things happening to make them happen. An example is school this fall at USU. Rob is already accepted and we've already been approved for some finacial aid, but realistically we will have to have at least a small part time job to survive. So, we are starting to make arrangements for that move, but we know if we don't get a job by the time school starts, we probably won't be able to go, but we won't know until it's time. My job now is all right, but once school starts, it almost shuts down, and I would be lucky to get 7 hours a week, which isn't going to cut it, so we know something has to change, we just don't know where or what right now. It all depends on getting a job, anywhere we might go, which is scary and frustrating for us to think about because that's what we've been trying to do since last September, so we are nervous about if it is actually going to happen! So, that's most of what we are thinking about these days! Eden starts school in August, and I'm not sure where to register her or where we are going to be! I did get her registered at the local elementary where we are currently living, but it is the least likely place we are going to be come August! Oh well, I guess things will work out, one day at a time!

Loooong Week

Can I just say that this has been a really crappy week?! It all started, sort of, a week ago from yesterday, on a Thursday. Rob had been called and actually had an interview for a Graphic Design job, the first for months! We were so excited. We should have known. For the third time, yes this has now happened to us THREE times, Rob got a call a half an hour before his interview from the company telling him that they actually realized that they can't afford to hire anyone right now so they are cancelling the interview. What! They didn't figure this out before posting the job and setting up interviews?! I don't understand how they don't know this before, and I REALLY don't understand how it's now happened to us THREE times!! The first two were for just random jobs from local stores, but this was the first for an actual graphic designer job. Needless to say we were discouraged. But, we tried to forget about it and go about out day. I worked that afternoon, and about 20 minutes after getting to work, the back of my neck by my hairline started itching. Then my hip started itching. When I had a moment alone, I finally looked at my hip to discover that it was covered in a hive bigger than my hand. Luckily I only worked for two hours, so as soon as I was done, I headed home. By the time I got home, the hive had spread and almost completely covered my torso. I took some benedryl and tried not to itch! After about an hour or so it did finally start going down, and I thought we were done. Wrong! At about 10 that night, my whole body started breaking out again. It covered my legs, arms, stomach, back, etc. I'd say I was at least 80% covered in angry red hives. I was going insane! So, we called my parents, my dad came up with the kids, and Rob and I headed to the ER. I was given an epinephren (sp?) shot, along with three other medicines, and after a little bit, my hives finally started going down again. They sent me home with some prescriptions, and I hoped we were over it. Wrong. I woke up the next day and still had hives, mostly on my legs and arms, but as the day went on, they moved around my whole body, including my face. I kept on my medicine, and tried to not go insane from the itching. We took the kids to Rob's mom's house that night because Saturday was Rob's birthday and we had planned on having the kids sleep at his mom's house so Rob and I could go camping and then fishing in the morning for his birthday. We dropped the kids off, and then went home because I was too miserable to go camping. We watched TV, and went to bed. Poor Rob! He was so good about it though and just wanted me to feel better! So, I woke up the next morning at 7:00 because my lips felt funny. Turns out my face was totally swollen as well as my hands! This scared me a bit again because I was afraid it was going to spread to my throat, so we made another morning trip to the ER where I got another shot of epinephren. It took away the swelling, and again we were able to leave after a couple of hours. We went and got the kids, and honestly, the rest of the weekend is kind of a blur to me. I was on a lot of meds to keep it under control, including benedryl, so I was pretty out of it. I went to a dermatologist on Monday, who finally prescribed me an epi pen to have on hand in case I ever have another reaction like this again. I think we've finally decided that what I had the reaction to was the anti-biotic Microbid, which I had been taking the previous week for a bladder infection. I guess it is kind of common to have delayed reactions to medications, especially anti-biotics. I was glad to have figured it out because it was kind of stressful not knowing what caused it because I didn't know how to avoid it. So, by Tuesday, the hives were pretty much gone, but all the meds, especially the steriods, took their toll and wiped me out! Tuesday night and Wednesday night I had insomnia and probably slept a total of 5 hours between the two. Yesterday I woke up to discover that I had another bladder infection, and spent part of the day going to the instacare again to get tested for it, and then start more meds for that! I feel like I've gone full circle! I had a bladder infection, which I took medicine for, had an allergic reaction to, started to recover from, only to end up starting over again with another bladder infection! Will it ever end!!! So, I finally slept a little better last night, but still don't feel well today, and I am just hoping it all starts settling down for good for a while! One blessing this week has been that this is our break at work for swimming lessons, so I haven't had to work at all through this. I do work tomorrow and hopefully I'll be doing better. Next week starts the summer hours, and I will be working closer to 30 hours a week, so at least this happened at a time when I wasn't having to work or take it off! And that concludes my really long week.

This is a picture of my leg on the second day, when it wasn't so bad!