Having a grand time

So my husband rob is gone for the week. He was supposed to leave early yesterday morning. He got up early packed his things up and said his goodbyes and took makenna to school. Shortly after he comes barelling through the door all hysterical. Believe it or not....someone stole his lights off the back of his truck. Yes completely cut wires and took them. For those of you who don't know our home has been hit Sooooo many times it is getting really old. We have alarms, security systems, cameras you name it my husband has gone to great lengths to protect his things. You can see how well this has all worked. All he could do is rewind the cameras over and over and watch some hoodlum take something from his precious truck. It was obviously someone who knew we had cameras because they were wearing a huge hood over their face. So needless to say rob was all up in arms all morning trying to get lights so that he could leave on his trip to california. Finally after a lot of calling around and driving he left around 2 or so yesterday.

So today I have been a having a great time. What have I been doing you ask? You guessed nothing and everything that I want to do. One thing I decided to do today was clean my kids bathroom. You know the greatest part about it is that Iwanted to clean them. That is the best part to me. I get to clean the bathroom because I want to not because I feel it out of duty or know that it pleases my husband but because I want to.

A few years back my friend patty and I were at a progressive Christmas dinner party and we were at our old Relief Society Presidents Home...Sister Mcfarland. For whatever reason both patty and I had to use the restroom at some point. Let me just say it was the talking point for us the rest of the evening. Her bathrooms were immaculate! Not a drop of dust anywhere. I was so impressed! They were so clean that you felt like you could lay down naked and eat ice cream or something good off of the floor. Seriously! So I aspired that night to become like her and take pride in my bathrooms. Havent hit my goal yet, but I still have the picture in my mind.

So I put on my ear phones and ipod and went to cleaning. I listened to the beatles yellow submarine, Boston more than a feeling and then Lionel Ritchie came on Hello. I started cracking myself up remembering the video. Anyone remember it??? At the end the blind girl sculps this giant head of Lionel Ritchie. Funny how music helps your recall old memories that you have. I love that! I have had guests visiting for like the last 3 weekends in a row so I knew it was going to be a doozy.
I don't think that I have been that intimate with my toilet for a very long time. The dust behind the toilet was quite discusting. Sometimes I wish that I had a third bathroom simply because this is the bathroom that both my two older teenagers use and I know it isnt always as clean as it should be. But feel free if you are driving by and need to stop to go to the bathroom. I will gladly let you in without cringing.

I wonder what the next few days will bring? I love just being able to do whatever without having to be accountable to anyone but myself. There have been times that I have been a little envious of Kristen thinking she must have the best life having her husband gone and then come home every weekend. I am very independant and think I would really like that! The best part however would be the much anticipated reunion. You know....its just long enough to enjoy it and just long enough to really want them to come home! There are definately draw backs that I will be experiencing at the end of the week. I have to work thursday and friday and thursday night kailey has a meeting at the high school, kyle has his last piano lesson and his recital is friday night at 6pm. What am I going to do? I work until 7:00. These are the moments that I really feel for single women who have to figure it all out. In fact that brings my thoughts back to a comment that our new bishop said at sacrament meeting. He thanked and said he had a special appreciation for those women that for whatever reason are working and then coming home and trying to be a good mom too. I really appreciated that comment. In the past I have felt really judged because I havent EVER been able to stay at home and only be a mom. I have always worked and hate the fact that this has been the situation. In the past I worked for the money. Now I work for the benefits for our family. It is something I struggle with all the time but really appreciated his thoughts. Usually they have stay at home moms get up and say something. While most are awesome there have been a few that rip those of us who work. It just creates bad feelings all the way around. Thank heavens I have a strong testimony or I could have let my offended heart take me away. Really I know what is going on and am ok with the fact that some people arent aware of other peoples circumstances. I will chalk it up to being "young" how about that? Well I must run there are lots of things I want to do, Woo Hoo.....I promise rob that by the end of the week I will miss you!

Modest/one piece bathing suits

The question is do they exist? I cannot believe as I have been out looking for myself and my 2 girls that the majority of swim suits are 2 piece. One I don't have the body for a 2 piece and two I want to set a good example for my daughters. Kailey actually went to a party a few weeks back at a "popular" girls house. It was really funny and cute because she called me up during the party and was like "mom all the girls have 2 piece bathing suits." I said well are you alright? Do you want me to come and get you? She said no. I could tell that she was feeling a little uncomfortable being the only one with a one piece. I feel bad that she is having to deal with such dumb things like this. Girls can be so mean! Most of the girls there were LDS. I think everyone is free to choose what they want for themselves and their kids. I guess I would have hoped that the other LDS girls would have been more supportive whether they chose to were one or two piece suits and helped everyone to feel alright. It is such a hard time for girls as it is with body issues anyway. Oh well it was a definate character builder for kailey learning that being different can sometimes be hard but worth it in the end. I am proud to say she made it through the party just fine....lol..
Anyways...enough of the drama. I came across this website that has modest, but cute suits. You can mix and match or customize your suits. SO I decided to post the link in the event that other people are having as hard of time as I have trying to find one piece let alone modest swimsuits. The down fall is that they are a little spendy. Why is that? The same goes with healthy food, we have to pay more for better quality. Oh well. Here is the link hope you like! http://www.diviinemodestee.com/

Bone marrow donor

So it is official! I am now a bone marrow donor. I went down today to Phoenix Childrens Hospital and filled out the paper work. There were all kinds of news stations there and channel 15 came over and asked me if they could interview me. There wasn't anyone else there so I agreed. Okay I didnt know that when I decided to get involved that I would really have a voice in the whole thing. I hope that I didnt sound like a complete idiot as I was really nervous. So I will be on T.V. tonight on channel 15 during the 5pm news. I hope that it helps motivate people to go and do it. It was really harmless. I just filled out paperwork and then talked a little bit about my questions until I understood and then I had to swab my own cheeks. That is IT! It was painless and so easy. While I was standing there swabbing my cheeks a little girl that was maybe 4 came up. She obviously has cancer because she had no hair and a little hat on. Her mom or someone was signing up to be a donor. I felt complete peace and joy come over me knowing that I could help someone and their families somehow. Some of the big questions that I had was...who pays for it? Which the patients families insurance pays for it. There are a lot of people waiting as I write. There is a new process that they do which I think that I mentioned in an earlier blog that is they take your blood and take out the marrow and then reinfuse it back into your body. They give you medicine to help your body create more marrow and then they take your blood. The man said that 70% of the time this is how they get the marrow. How harmless is this? The other 30% is from the hip.
I know that everyone is scared of the pain and honestly I may be too a little. I just think that I can endure whatever pain that is involved to help out someone else who deserves it like Robin Groff. She has been my inspiration in all of this and I am thankful to her and her story for giving me the courage to take a stand and be helpful. I will continue to pray for her miracle!

Cannery

My sister in law keristen came down from SJ to go to the cannery with me. We were signed up to do salsa friday morning. When we got there I guess they had already done the salsa but had us go and help with the local food banks. We bagged pinto beans for the food banks. It was interesting to hear about yet another program that the church helps with to help people all over. Our church is amazing! We had a good time and even got done a lot earlier than we would have doing salsa. The only bummer was that keirsten didnt get to see how the cannery worked. It is fun to go and work in the wet pack area. They even let us buy beef stew and spaghetti sauce if we wanted along with the salsa. I think the salsa is yum. It is a little bit sweet and a tiny bit spicy. I love spicy things so I could use it a little hotter but it is good to just eat. I have heard that some people hate it but I love it! So thanks keristen for coming and going with me to work on our year supply!

St. Johns State Champions!

Over the weekend I was able to go the the semi-finals for the boys baseball from St. Johns. My nephew Jake plays on the team. It was a great game other than the fact that it was blazing hot! Well they ended up winning and played on Saturday again during the hottest part of the day 4pm. The redskins ended up playing hayden for the state championship and guess what they won! It was a really exciting game! I usually dont enjoy watching baseball because it seems so slow to me, but the high school was awesome. It was fun to see all the people from SJ come and support the team. My whole family ended up coming down which was nice to see butch and julie, chris and keirsten and my mom. Jake and the rest of the team were on cloud nine. I wish I could remember the score but I can't. We didnt even have our cameras to post pictures. Oh well it was still exciting. It was the first time the baseball team had been to the championship game and won since 1971 I heard. Wait to go Redskins!

Robin Groff/ bone marrow donor

When I first starting checking out blogs and deciding whether or not I was going to do one, I went blog surfing. Well I came across a blog that forever changed my heart. It was of a friend from my ward Lisa. Well I was checking out her cute little blogs and favorite things and she had listed some of her favorite websites to visit. One of them was Robin Groffs daily journal or something like that. Well I clicked on it and was engrossed in the story of this amazing woman. I have been a little obsessed with it. Her whole story is quite sad and I just feel for her. She has cancer and is in the end stages of possibly her life. I pray for her every night and day.
I was telling my friend patty about it and she has started reading her story as well. I cry and am so emotionally involved with this that I have to stop for awhile because I get so depressed. I just can't imagine what she and her family are going through. I feel so sad and depressed about it and I don't even know her other than her blog. I also feel bad for lisa who knows her...it would be hard having a friend that is struggling so much I can't imagine.

Well anyways in one of her posts she says that if she has informed/educated just one person or motivated them to donate their bone marrow to help someone else than she will feel successful. Patty and I have had long talks about her and we have decided to go and start the process of being a bone marrow donor. Next week they are having a drive across the valley and it is free for anyone who goes. Usually it cost $25.00 for someone who goes in but it is sponsored next week. Patty and I checked in to it and all it involves is a swab from the inside of your mouth. Of course if you are a match then I assume you will get a call. We both feel that it is our duty to help. I called them to see about the details and it takes a total of 15 minutes. You can take your kids, they have toys around for them to play with. You just fill out paperwork and then they swab your mouth. Currently they have 6,000 people across the united states waiting for a donor match.

I have felt so strongly about this. In fact I have been waking up in the night thinking about it. What if I was the one that could save some persons family member from dying? What if it were my family member that were waiting? I guess I would urge anyone that is reading to consider becoming a donor. Go to bone marrow website and get informed and read all you can and learn. This isnt like donating a kidney or body part. Your body will reproduce what is taken out. It is a scary thought in ways but as I have started to love robin groff from her website I feel it is the only thing I can do to help. I will continue to pray for her and her family that she may have a recovery and be able to raise her beautiful sweet little girl. She is so young. We all know miracles exist and I am praying that for her! If you want to read her little website the address is Robingroff.com. It is an amazing story. So next week I will go down and do my part in helping. I will let you all know how it goes! So thank you lisa for sharing her story I have been forever changed!

Cinco De Mayo

So this is me an my friend patty. She and I went to a Cinco de mayo party at the church last saturday. It was a lot of fun! Good food and entertainment. I was impressed at what a few young elders could throw together! I am sure there was a lot of planning that went in to it, but they should be proud because in my opinion it was quite successful. I was especially happy that I got to go with patty. She is always such good company!

While on the subject of patty I will tell you a little bit about her. She is one of my very favorite friends! She is an amazing woman! I met her almost 7 years ago at the opening of Banner Heart Hospital. Over the years we have become really close. You know how you are just drawn to some people? Well that is how I felt about her. She is one of the smartest people I know! You can tell her something and somehow years later she will remember every detail you told her! Everyone loves a great friend that listens...well she is the best listener I know! She also has a really great sense of humor...she cracks me up. The other day I was leaving a message for someone and you know you can replay it to see if you liked what you said...well I was replaying my messaging and I was cracking up to myself because I sounded just like patty. In fact rob is always accusing me of that. He will say okay patty or that sounds just like patty. She and her husband al have spent Thanksgiving with us and Christmas. They are our family here in the valley. She is expecting her first baby and I am so excited for her! Cannot wait to see the sweet little one that she has been so patiently waiting to come!
I guess the thing I love about her the most besides the obvious of compassion, honesty, sincerity, beauty, great values is...you know sometimes it is a little scary letting people get to know the real you. I have loved that I have been able to share my faith with her and she doesnt think I am a nut or crazy. She is always respectful and whether or not she thinks it is crazy, she never ever says anything derogitory about it. She respects me and my faith and I LOVE that about her. She is one of those friends that I can tell anything to and know that I can call her at a moments notice and she will be there to help or do whatever I need. Friends like that are hard to find and I am thankful and blessed to have found her! So if you ever have the chance of getting to know her...you will be overwhelmed at the goodness she has to offer!
Alright I better stop she will probably be annoyed that I wrote a whole blog about her! Love ya patty!