give blood, be a hero, traumatize your child...

ever since my 2 nephews had their medical problems when they were born and needed blood transfusions, i have felt a need to "give" back. i am eternally grateful for the medical teams that saved/helped them and the blood donations that they received. i figure the least that i can do is to help save someone else.

when i was in high school i gave blood and ended up with the nurse holding the trash can and my (then) boyfriend holding my hair out of the line of fire. i had decided to never give blood again. well, that was until as i explained before. in january was the first time i had given since high school. everything went pretty well until about half way through when my eyes started going out of focus and i started feeling hot. then i got cold and clammy. they elevated my legs and gave me a wet rag to use and i made it through just fine.

yesterday, i decided i would try again. i didn't really feel well but thought "what the heck, if i get sick...i get sick. no big deal!" so i went. brandon and the boys went with me 1) because i don't trust myself driving home (just in case) 2) we were headed out to do errands and go to a birthday party. so, i get all my paperwork done, give blood without any funny feelings. i was proud of myself! if you have ever given blood before you know that you have to sit in the canteen area for 15 mins. to make sure that you are okay and eat your cookies and drink your juice. well that is what i was doing (brandon and the boys were sitting with me) all was fine and brandon wanted me to leave early. my stomach did feel a little uneasy so i said "let's just wait." meanwhile, the last donor came and sat down in the middle row on the end (i was on the back row in the middle). there were a few other people left there that were just chatting away. i looked at my watch, it was 12:47. i could leave at 12:51 (i know big deal 4 mins. go ahead and leave but leaving just didn't seem right). here comes the traumatic part...remember the last donor...well i happened to glance at him after looking at my watch. i thought he was stretching his neck from side to side then his back arches, eyes roll back in his head, mouth falls open and eye lids don't shut!!! he started sliding out of his chair so i jumped up (a little too fast and got light-headed) to see if he was okay-things still not registering...big guy like him this should be a piece of cake. meanwhile, he is turning green and everything is still open....FREAKY!!!! so i yelled for help, the people in the front row turned around, they were clueless until i yelled. (that man was lucky i was behind him. who knows how long the poor guy would have sat there like that! j/k) so all the workers run over, put him on the floor, elevate his legs and start talking to him. no one knew the guys name so they had to dig up his paper work...his name was jared. they started talking to him, patting his face, rubbing his arms....NOTHING....everything still open!! we started pulling back the chairs to make more room so that they can put screens around him to give him some privacy (or in case things got bad, i don't know which). just before the screens went up one guy started pounding...yes, pounding...on his chest right over his HEART!! jared finally comes to...looks around completely confused... they start asking him questions and the rest of us turn to leave.

one of the guys from the front row looks at me and asks "is he okay?" i said "yeah" (thinking he was talking about jared). he said "no, him" and points to caleb. with everything happening so fast i totally forgot that caleb had just witnessed EVERYTHING!!! he was totally freaked out...actually i don't know if freaked out is the right phrase...traumatized. i walked over to him and he walked away from me, wouldn't talk or look at anyone for about 30 mins. i felt so bad!!

there i was...trying to do something good and end up screwing up my kid (not really, he was fine later)! note to self, don't take the kids or make brandon keep them in the car!!!

i survived....just kidding!!

so, i made it through my first week of school. and i have to say that it was quite the experience. the kids that i teach are great kids and we are going to have a great year. i am so used to dealing with younger kids that i had forgotten how to handle the bigger kids. surprisingly, for some of them, there wasn't much difference between kindergarteners and 6th graders. i have already threatened to send some back to kindergarten to learn the basics (keep your hands to yourself and no whining or throwing tanturms, yes we had one already). all in all, it was a great week. i am really excited to be teaching. i was reminded of why i got my degree in teaching. aside from being a mom, it is definately the most rewarding "job" ever!

big news....

just for those of you who don't know, i got a new job. i was offered the job of 6th grade science teacher at simonton elementary. i was hired on tuesday and started with district meetings on wednesday. needless to say, i have been busy beyond belief and am feeling a bit overwhelmed. i am so excited about this new opportunity. caleb and i will have the same schedule, for the most part, and troy will be with one of my good friends. it has been almost 7 years since i graduated college and am having to dig back in my brain to remember certain things. i actually get to put to use all the learning i paid for. if any of you have sixth graders this year, i'm their science teacher!

high flyin'

last month we went to visit my sister in utah. while we were there we went to lagoon. the last time i went was like 9 years ago, the summer before brandon and i got married. anyway, when we got there caleb wanted to ride everything. my mom and dad were there and they kept the babies while we went on rides. i was going to skip the skycoaster because 1- it's $15 a person to ride and 2-i didn't think caleb would want to ride it. was i ever wrong! he begged to ride it and i caved. we waited for what seemed like forever. then it was our turn.

1- listening to our instructions
2- getting raised up to the top of the tower
3- flyin' high
4- waving at the camera
5- all finished and getting lowered to the platform


caleb had a blast!! he didn't make a sound until we had gone back and forth a couple of times (i think he was a little freaked out, more than he wanted to admit). when he finally said something it was "that was awesome!!!"


i have a video of us but i can't get it to post or does it normally take forever for videos to load? if i can get it to load i'll get it on here.

flashback friday...

i was just thinking back to this time last year and looked at my pictures from the 4th last year. then i realized that i only have pictures of troy. we went to gilbert's 4th of july celebration and caleb was busy with the rides, games, slides, jumpers, etc. anyway, it is unreal how troy has changed. what do you think?




hope everyone has a great and safe independence day!

are these MY children????

let me explain...troy has become the pickiest eater ever. his diet consisted of cheerios, gold fish, yogurt and bananas. that was about all i could get him to eat, until wednesday night. i had a can of black beans in my pantry and thought "what the heck, why not try." he ate them like he hadn't had anything to eat in a month, but he has done this before. the real test is the second try.....amazingly the same thing. third try...and this is what he looked like...





he couldn't get enough. and to top that off, he ate spaghetti for dinner. we have tried several times to no avail. now i will stop with troy before i jinx myself.

on to caleb...the kid hates to clean, doesn't see the need nor does he care that he can't find the floor in his bedroom (yes, it gets that bad). he has taken up to 3 days for him to clean his room, no tv, no computer, only food and water. and yes he was in there the entire time....anyway, earlier today he came to me and said "mommy, i want to vaccum the floor." first of all, he hates the vaccum (it hurts his ears) and secondly (see above explanation). i was on the phone with brandon and i told him what caleb said. then brandon said "maybe he is trying to earn more minutes to play the xbox?" surprisingly, NO, he just wanted "the floor to be smooth". so here he is in action....



he went down the hall and everything. what???? is this really my child????

are these MY children? this is a good thing but will it last? i'll have to wait and see.....

a week of "lasts"....

okay, so i'm a little behind yet again....baseball and school are now over. caleb had his last baseball game on the 17th and his last day of school was the 23rd.

first the baseball game...it has been amazing to see the improvement that caleb has made since his first day of practice. he has really grown to love the game of baseball. he made a lot of new friends and "reconnected" with some old teammates. (i say old like they've lived a life time...they're only 6 or 7, oh well)






troy became quite a handful at the games. he would try and run to brandon when he was out on the field or try to snack on some left behind treats. thank goodness for the concession stand and red vines (red licorice for those who don't know)...yes that is what is on his face. he ate about 15 of them all by himself that last day. that was the only way we could get him to sit and stay in the shade. good trade if you ask me...sugar high vs. sunburned baby...i'll take sugar high any day.


now for school...who would have thought that it would be cold and raining on the last day of school...in may in arizona no less? well it was and did and it was NICE!!! we (the parents) had a little party for the kids and they sang songs to pass the time..not much else to do. they had an honors assembly. caleb was awarded student of the month for march. i was proud, he didn't have a clue nor did he care. mrs. king was his teacher and she was great. caleb thought the world of her!






so we made it through kindergarten...first grade here we come.....

playing catch up........

okay...so i've been a little busy lately...not really just reading the Twilight series. just check out my sister's blog if you don't know what it is all about (boo on my bloggers list).

last week caleb had his kindergarten celebration. it was really cute! it's crazy to think that he will be in first grade come august...time in flying by!!




sorry the pictures aren't clear. of course, as soon as i got ready to start taking pictures the batteries started dying...just my luck.


we also went to the diamondbacks game on saturday. it was little league day and the kids got to parade around the warning track. we left troy with my m-i-l and all 3 of us got to walk together. there was only one other kid from caleb's team that came so we had a small group.


as we got around to the exit we looked back and saw ourselves on the jumbo-tron. you can see us in the bottom left corner. you can see brandon taking a picture of us on the jumbo-tron. it was kind of weird!



we had a lot of fun and the diamondbacks won 10-4 over the mets. it was way more exciting than the score sounds...not the blow out that it looks.

tagged.........

A. Attached or Single? attached
B. Best Friends? Brandon & Boo
C. Cake or Pie? Cake(red velvet)
D. Day of choice? Friday
E. Essential item? Clean underwear and thanks to gravity... a good bra
F. Favorite color? Green
G. Greatest Accomplishment? My children & my degree in math
H. Hometown? Uriah, Alabama
I. Indulgences? Dr. Pepper & Twix
J. January or July? that's hard...january b/c it isn't 200 degrees out but july is my birthday month
K. Kids? 2- Caleb and Troy
L. Life is incomplete without? family and a good book
M. Marriage date? Dec. 17, 1999
N. Number of siblings? 2- 1 bro. 1 sis.
O. Oranges or Apples? Apples but not granny smith or red delicious
P. Phobias or fears? Losing a family member and snakes
Q. Quotes?
R. Reason to smile? Happy kids, good husband, fun times, pedicures
S. Season? spring for the new flowers and fall b/c cooler temps are on the way.
T. Tag three friends? whoever
U. Unknown fact about me? I just called in to Dr. Phil for Miranda....j/k....My celebrity crush is Anderson Cooper.
V. Very favorite store? Target
W. Worst habit? I'm a junk food junkie
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasounds by far.
Y. Your favorite food? a green salad or shrimp
Z. Zodiac? Cancer....crabby, crabby, crabby.....at least that's what Brandon would say.

wow...a temple in gilbert!!

my father-in-law called us and told us about this last night. a member of his bishopric sent him an email about it. the location is going to be somewhere around greenfield and pecos. i didn't know if this was supposed to be shared info until i found this on a friends blog. so, i guess it's official! here's the announcement below...


Location: Gilbert, Arizona, United States.
Announcement: April 2008
In his first temple announcement since becoming president of the Church, President Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of two temples in Arizona: one in the Gila Valley and the other in Gilbert—bringing the total number of temples in Arizona to four. "It is my personal priority to make sure members of the Church have access to the blessings of the temple," said President Monson. "It is here where members learn of their divine origin and destiny; where they are strengthened spiritually as individuals and as families. Temples are sanctuaries from the storms of life."1
Located in the southeastern section of the Phoenix metropolitan area—just south of Mesa—Gilbert and its surrounding communities enjoy a high concentration of Church members, who currently attend the Mesa Arizona Temple. A temple in Gilbert will help relieve demands currently placed on the Mesa temple, which serves well over 70 stakes throughout southern Arizona.