My crazy week

For those who are not in the loop this was my week
Monday oct 31 Halloween-- the usual get ready for the crazy trick or treating, get a text that my mother-in-law is having a brain tumor removed on Saturday!
Tuesday- take care of Haley (9-1 every tues and thurs) Paparazzi show2-6 7:30-9 conference call to help my business grow
Wednesday--Marshall leaves to go to Cincinnati, the power goes out all morning, paparazzi show 3-9
Thursday- My sister-in-law has a brain tumor removed (yes it is the same tumor my mother-in-law has)Take care of Haley, make 10 freezer meals for freezer exchange
Friday- leave at 8 to pick up mar shall from the airport, stop at the hospital to visit, lunch together(me, Marshall and Libby) home at 3:00 eat dinner and then head to Marshall's company movie day, then to my in laws for a last hurrah before her surgery.
Saturday--4:45 meet at ALA for bountiful baskets, home at 8am, cut and put away my basket until 10 (yes I cook and freeze lots of food) all the while waiting for my mother in law to come out of surgery.  make more freezer meals to finish up.  lunch and then to the hospital to check on my mother in law, home and load up my vehicle for another Paparazzi show and then home in bed by 11.

if being a caregiver and helping my mom care for my sister doesn't cause enough feelings of helplessness then having her in and out of the hospital every few weeks makes me sad.   But add brain tumors on 2 family members that you love makes the stress even more unbearable.

so for those of you that want to know how I do it... I don't.  I spend days crying because of my inability to take care of my daughter, husband, home and family.  I finally have exhausted all my everything.  So on Monday when I wondered how I was going to deal with this week  all alone I knelt down and prayed harder than I have prayed in a while.   I prayed because I had no where else to turn.  no help and no relief from the rigors of life.  and just asked my Father in Heaven to give me the strength that I needed to be able to make it one more day!  I know that he answers prayers but in that moment I had an immediate relief of my pain, frustrations, sorrows, feelings of inadequacy.   I was calmed down enough to move forward with my day.

I still feel like I am not doing all I can or even enough to keep a float but I know on those days that I cant do it alone that the savior steps in and makes my burdens light and bearable.

I know that answers to prays don't always come fast and are not always what we want but he does bless us with small miracles.  We may all be looking for large miracles but if we step back and look we will see the Lords hand in our life.  Look for the small blessings and you will be amazed at how often the Lord answers prayers.

ps.  Both brain tumors were successfully removed.  My sister in law is home and doing well.  My mother in law was lucky at the timing of her surgery.  So we are feeling blessed that the lord prompted the surgeon to do the surgery so quick.

Today, yesterday, and the month before!

Well if you hadn't noticed ALL of my blogs have been lacking in the love department.

I am putting a blame in a few areas.

First-- I went back to work Part time for the summer.  July aug and sept.
second--Haley has gotten worse.  She is needing more care than before.
third--marshall has gotten a new position at work and spending a bunch of time working
Forth-- Libby is feeling like I don't pay enough attention to her and she is starting to give up ...nap time... I think every mothers worst nightmare.
fifth--I started selling paparazzi jewelry and that is taking up all my extra free time.
sixth-- libby has been on and off sick the past 3 weeks and so have I.

I hope those are enough reasons that you all feel sorry for me and forgive my absence in the blogging world.

So that was the short of it I will give some tidbits to make it all worth while.

Libby Turned 3 yeah and we had a party.  we were going to take her to the zoo but I didn't give us enough time in my planning to figure in rush hour traffic.  so instead we went to thanksgiving point and road the pony and saw lots of fun animals.

She  choose  dinner at wingers because she loves the popcorn!

We had a friend make a repunzal cake and it turned out great.  

Libby was super excited about it!  it tasted great and really made her day!

She got a special birthday hat at preschool!!  she loves preschool and I am 

glad she has somewhere fun to go meet new people!

When I turned 3 they found my Heart block.  I have been nervously and impatiently waiting for her to turn 3 so that we can check her heart to see if what I have is hereditary.  

She reluctantly let us put stickers on her (she whined and cried the entire time).  but when all is said and done she is perfectly healthy and does not I repeat enthusiastically she DOES NOT have a heart problem!!!!!!!!!!!

one of her many wonderful gifts was a princess dress she wears all the time she is my little princess through and through!!

towards the end of september Haleys illness took a turn for the worse and she was in a lot of pain.  so they decide that it would help her if they put in a GJ tube (it is one that goes though her  stomach into her intestines)  so they took the nose feeding tube out and now she has hole into her stomach.  for the most part is has been a hard transition but what major surgery doesn't require a bit of healing.  We hope that after the 6 weeks of recovery she will be feeling up to par.  for now she is looking better and in a bit better spirits.  This was a picture of one of the days of her week long stay at primary children's.

We took libby down as part of her birthday and just because we could.  to go see the little mermaid at the tuacahn in st george!  it was amazing she loved it.  she loved the songs and the whole experience.  We are excited to take her next year to go see Aladdin.  But for now she is singing ariels songs still.  and mermaids are her favorite thing to talk about.

 this was her look through out the entire movie she sat on the edge of her seat and watched.  with intermittent smiles and laughing with glee.

Hope that filled the long and short of our september Maybe next week I will blog about oct.

Life is crazy

Some days I wonder when is my life going to slow down. 

I have been really busy and have not had the time that I want to get the things done I need too. 

I have been working Part time at Larry Miller Chevy in prov since the beginning of July since my Good friend Got ill.  I fill in 3-4 hours 3 times a week.  I forgot how difficult it is to get stuff done when you are constantly on the run.  I will be done working at the end of Sept. after the inventory is through.  I cant wait.

I also started selling Paparazzi Jewelry!!! its $5 anything and everything is $5.  the little girl stuff is usually $1 so a really great deal.

I just got my first shipment of product and already sold 10% of it and have put in another order today.  I am really excited to start selling. 

The reason I decided to sell Jewelry is because I needed a hobby.  Marshall is going to be really busy with school for the next 6 months and if I have something I can do to keep me busy while he is studying I can not be bothered by his not being around as much. 

Libby is starting Preschool next week.  I cant believe how gown up she is getting.  She keeps asking if she can have a cherry for her birthday.  I just laugh and say sure. 

Marshall and I went to st George a couple of weeks ago and Had a nice getaway with our friends.  We went an saw Grease at the tuachan.  We decided while we were there that we are going to bring Libby back in September to see the little mermaid.  We hope she really likes it. 

I started taking the financial peace university classes from a women that is in my ward.  I really Love how inspiring Dave Ramsey can be.  I hope this helps me plan make My 5 year plan more concrete.  Mine always fall through where Marshall's always work.

so that's the long and the short of the past few months.  So if anyone is interested in great jewelry or jewelry holders please give me a call and I can hook you up.

I love how happ marshall Looks in this picture!!!

For Sale

  

Does your jewelry box look like mine??

Well I have found a way to fix my problem 

Earring and Necklace Holder

5x7 sell for $5

10x13 Black is $15

 

12x12 Ocean Breeze Blue is $15

26x10 Green Apple is $20

26x10 Rich Plum is $20

Sizes Available

26x10 $20

16x12 $20

17x13 $20

12x24 $25

26x12 $25

18x24 $25

8x10 $10

5x7 $5

Colors Available

Fire Red

Rich Plum

Black

Blue ocean Breeze

Green Apple

Real Orange

Watermelon Pink

Cream

If you would like to pick your own color you can. 

If you are interested in purchasing a Jewelry holder please Drop me a line at

marshallandbrittany@yahoo.com let me know what color you would

like and the size you want.  I have lots ready to go!!!

Grandma camp 2011

http://grandmacamp.blogspot.com/

Lots of really cute pictures on the grandma camp blog.  check it out!!! she also has a book with lots of ideas to help you get started with your own grandma camp.

WHAT GRANDMAS AROUND THE WORLD SHOULD TRY

this year was space themed.  What an awesome job grandma did!!!

All the kids had a great time and she was well prepared. 

the long end of the shuttle "rescue"

"Space Saucers" donuts

Little kids space shuttle

space shuttle race

Space goop



Libby meeting the Space alien(grandpa)



Libby in her space suit getting ready to leave for her mission



Brittanys Birthday

I had a fantastic birthday.  We went and ate our hearts out.  Here are some pictures of Libby eating her heart out.

We ate at brick oven on Monday and they bring out a nice piece of chocolate pie and we shared...until Libby realized Marshall had taken a large last bite and left only a small bit and she said hey and slowly pulled the plate to her and wouldn't share anymore.  We just died laughing.

On Tuesday My mom had Libby help frost the birthday cake she made me.  Needless to say this was Libby's idea of helping to frost the cake.

 

We had a big family get together this weekend and here is a cute picture of My brothers Little boy Izaiah and Libby Playing the Ipad with Haley.

Now we had to run errands.  So she said wait mom I need to close the door (to the tv)  and then she ran to her room and told me she needed to lock the doors so no one watched tv but her.  I laughed because its just me and her and apparently she is worried I will watch the tv without her.



I need to put my contact in

Keep an eye out for upcoming grandma camp pictures.  They are pretty cute.

Brittanys Birthday

Today is My birthday YEAH!!!!!  I am a bit older than yesterday.

Because 29 is a universal age for "I don't want to get older so I am going to lie"  I have already had 1 person not believe my age.  I sure had a good laugh trying to convince her otherwise. 

We celebrated by eating Monday night dinner at "Brick Oven" my favorite restaurant.  and Marshall made me breakfast.  for lunch we are headed to Tucanos.  after that who knows what my day holds. 

Libby However is sad Because "whens is it my Birthday" with a sad pout face.  we will be making a paper chain or sticker chart I'm not sure which one will be more fun.

Vacation Tally

So I tallied up how much time we spent in the car


76 hours and 30 Min

So crazy!!!!! and the worst part was Libby slept an whole 3 hours of the trip

Trip Talley:

Utah-Butte 1:00-9:50 pm -9 hours because of our detour its not the same as the trip home
Butte-Lethbridge 11-4:30- 5.5 hours
Lethbridge-Cardston 45-45 – 1.5 hours
Lethbridge to cherry grove- 8:00am- 4:45pm 8.75 hours

Cherry grove to Esso (Marshall only) 2 hour trip

Cherry grove to cold Lake- 15 min to the dock

Cherry grove to Edmonton- 9-12:45 - 3.75

Marshall had 2 extra hours

Fort Edmonton Park to Fort Saskatchewan 50 min

Fort Saskatchewan to West Edmonton mall 50 min
West Edmonton mall to Okotoks 3 hours 44 min
Okotoks to Lake Louise 2 hours 53 min
Lake Louise to Lethbridge 4 hours 47 min
Lethbridge to Butte 5 hours 35 min
Butte to home 7 hours 26 min

3550 miles (about)   We hope not to have to make that trip for a long time!!

Vacation part 5

When we got to the Okotoks on Thursday evening it was late and Marshall had just received a text that His phone had used to much international usage. This was not good. That meant we had no phone use, no internet use, to GPS, use and we had planned to take a trip out to the mountains and had no idea where we were going. Marshall was not too happy and I was a bit worried. So far my just guessing if we were going in the right direction had not gone very well.



That night was the best night sleep we had the entire trip. Libby Slept from 9:30 until 8am. I was so glad because that meant that both Marshall and I got to sleep well.



So on Friday morning we got up and pulled a map out and started to try to figure out where we were going and then headed out. When we stopped to get fuel we found that the phone had been turned on and we had GPS again. I can’t tell you how glad I was that we no longer were just going to wing it.



We hoped that Libby would travel well after sleeping well…NOT. She cried and screamed and didn’t want to watch a movie. She was not very fun. So our nice 3 hour drive to Lake Louise was not so enjoyable. We came to the parks entrance and told Libby that the park only lets people in who are happy and not crying. And that if she was crying we would have to leave her with the park people. This worked really well in getting her to stop crying.



At the lodge we bought a ride and eat pass. So we could ride the gondola and eat lunch too. They had a nice little buffet and Libby ate ½ a roll, 2 bites of chicken and ohh yeah Celery. Don’t forget the nice piece of chocolate cake. After lunch we took the gondola up the mountain to see the beautiful scenery. We decided that it would be wise for us to take and enclosed gondola up the mountain rather than the ski lift benches. We have a two year old. Well we got in and sat down. Libby had a blast. She loved looking out the window. Poor Marshall was white knuckled and didn’t want to move a muscle. And I got motion sick.



While we were talking all the sudden we stopped. Marshall and I were quite unnerved and scared the benches swing just a bit, the gondola boxes feel like they are coming off the line and keep swinging for a bit. Both of us could have died and it was scary (or we are just both too scared of heights to make something like this worth it). It was a beautiful view and a bit chilly but I really enjoyed seeing it.



On the way down, she wanted to get out of the gondola, and told her the doors are locked. She looked at them and waved her arms and said “bippity boppity boo” and waited for them to open. We had a good laugh. She kept pretending to see a moose and a bear. She is getting to be quite creative. We left mid afternoon and headed back to Lethbridge to take the last leg of our trip home. It was nice to get to Greg and erins. We relaxed and watched a movie and Marshall and Libby slept long and hard. I loved that we could be ourselves and not worry. We got up the next day and I went shopping with Erin. To a little bakery and then to Costco to get perogies. They are so much better in Canada than here. Got home and packed up and left at noon-ish, to make it to butte by dinner time.

Butte has no franchise restaurants in the town, the McDonalds was burned down recently, the dairy queen might have been the same, and all we wanted was an Applebee’s. Instead we paid $21 for burned food, which took 45 min to make from the hotel restaurant. We went for ice cream because the nasty taste needed to be replaced. We all went to bed nice and early like 8:30 and then got up and headed home by 8am.



The last drive home had to be the hardest. 2 weeks of little to no sleep, no naps, enclosed in a small space together, No breaks, not eating well. We were not a happy family. We stopped for lunch in Pocatello and had Applebee’s, and then got in the car and drove. We just wanted to get home. We hit the Utah border and Libby had been crying for about 20 min. And she kept crying another 20 Both Marshall and I hoped she would sleep soon. And she did her only nap the entire trip and it wasn’t long enough.



We got home and unpacked the car quickly. And just sat on the couch and crashed. Libby went to bed on time. And slept well. I love my bed and am glad to be home.







Trip tally:
Okotoks to Lake Louise 2 hours 53 min
Lake Louise to Lethbridge 4 hours 47 min
Lethbridge to Butte 5 hours 35 min
Butte to home 7 hours 26 min