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!

Grandpa's Funeral

I downloaded my pictures, so I thought I would post some! I really loved my Grandpa's funeral, if that's a good way to put it! I loved honoring him, and I loved how he was honored. The service was very nice, full of memories and love, and then the procession to the cemetery was great! First of all, anyone who knew my grandpa knew that he loved cars. I guess he had once owned an old '30s truck (I don't remember the exact year), and my uncle happens to know someone who owns one, so my grandpa's casket was driven from the stake center on about 8600 S and 1000 E all the way to the Salt Lake cemetery, a drive of about 45 minutes. It would have actually taken longer, but another cool part was that the whole procession was escorted by a police honor guard, which including going through all the red lights and all! It was awesome! I'm sure my Grandpa was getting a huge kick out of the whole parade! The last really cool part was that at the cemetery, because he had served in the army, he was honored by a retired military guard which included a little ceremony with taps being played, and a rifle honor (I can't remember exactly what it's called!) where they shot their guns like 3 or 4 times. It was very moving, although we got a chuckle out of it as well! When they were shooting the guns, they were noisy and all the kids were surprised by it. Isaac looked up at me and asked, "Mom, are they shooting the bad guys?!" I'm sure Grandpa laughed at that one too! All in all, I was so very happy that my Grandpa was honored in the way he was, and like my cousin said, as people watched our procession going down the street and wondered who that person must have been, I am proud to say it was my Grandpa!

Grandpa-Richard Arnold Willits

This is a long overdue post, but I haven't been able to bring myself to write it until now. My grandpa, Richard Arnold Willits, passed away on March 10th. He is my mother's father, and pretty much the only grandpa I have known. He had diabetes, and has had health problems for a long time now. I forgot my camera, so I will have to post pictures next time. My grandpa and I have always had a close relationship, and I'm really going to miss him. My grandpa loved to tell stories, especially stories from his life, and I LOVED to hear them! My grandpa used to eat the grisle (I don't really know what it was, but it was crunchy!) from chicken bones, and I used to think he was actually eating the bones, especially since he would tease me and say he was! He loved the outdoors, and before he married my grandma, he worked as a forest ranger. He also loved to travel, and I don't even know how many countries he visited! He served as an army policeman during the Korean war, and I remember thinking he must have been really tough because he had a tattoo of a dagger on his forearm! But, really he was one of the nicest, politest, most classy men I have ever met! He and my grandma used to go dancing at a dance club with fancy clothes and everything! I used to picture his younger life full of all the romantic stuff of the old movies! But, he had his hard days too, and life was not always easy or even fair to him. But, I never heard him complain. He was one of the happiest people I knew, and loved a good laugh! I'm really going to miss listening to him talk and laugh ponder life! Because I had always had a good relationship with my grandpa, I was very happy when my kids also enjoyed being with him. They didn't get to see him as much as their grandparents, but whenever we did get the chance to visit, they were as comfortable with him as with me! Caydin also had a close relationship with my grandpa. Just a month before Caydin passed away, we had a big family reunion with my grandpa's family, including his sister and brother and all of their families. My grandpa's sister and brother had a little speech thing for my grandpa (he was the oldest and patriarch of the family), and during the middle of it, Caydin wondered up to him, and my grandpa welcomed him with open arms, and Caydin sat up there with him for almost 10 minutes for the rest of the speech, which was amazing because he never sat still for that long! I loved it when it happened, but it became more special after Caydin died a month later. Now they are together again, and I'm sure they are enjoying exchanging stories and laughing! As much as I am going to miss my grandpa, I sure wish I could have seen the reception on the other side when he got there because I'm sure it was wonderful! Besides Caydin, both his parents are there, other family, and also his younger brother, Charles, who was hit by a car and killed when he was 8 and my grandpa was 12. That's been a reunion a long time in the waiting! Thanks Grandpa for being the wonderful example you were, and for always making me feel special, accepted, and like the person I want to be!!