Month of Love

I've stated here before that I try to make Valentine's Day a day of love for me whole family, not just my sweetheart. This year I had the idea to dedicate a different post each day of the month to stating things I love about each of my family members. I'm running a little behind, so I have some catching up to do...

These are some of my favorite people... and some of the things I love about them.

Kayti
I LOVE that she loves sappy chick flicks and will watch them with me!

Josh
I LOVE that he loves little kids. I think he is going to make a great daddy one day

Kyle
I LOVE that he gives such great hugs. He's such a bit teddy bear.

MeganI LOVE that she is so artistic and free-spirited with her art. And she has a great sense of fashion, too.

Plans for 2012

I've been collecting my thoughts and putting together my goals for 2012. Little late, I realize, but better late than never!

We had a great Ward Conference today. Most of our talks centered around service, and this is something that I've been feeling that I need to do more of. One of the speakers today hit the nail on the head, as far as I am concerned, I think. He mentioned that it's not that we don't want to do service, but sometimes we get so caught up in our lives, or other things, that we don't always stop to help others. This has been my downfall! I feel that I have times when the Spirit is trying to nudge me to do things, and I want to do them, but then I get busy and don't get them done. So... I've come up with a plan! One of the things I want to work on this year is acting on those promtings. I decided that I need to get a small notebook to keep in my purse, and when I have those thoughts that I need to do something, I'm going to write it down. Then I will have the reminder that I need to do something!

We want to look for service opportunities for our family again this year. We enjoyed working together last year, and want to continue that.

Another area I want to work on is improving my spiritual health. I need to be better at reading my scriptures and saying my prayers. I also need to improve temple attendance. I want to set more time aside to work on my calling.

I want to continue to work on my physical health. I have more weight to lose, and I need to get back on track with my excersize. I need to get back to eating healthier again, too. I have let that slide a bit since Halloween!

I want to work towards being more organized. I used to pride myself on my organizational skills, but those have been lacking as of late. I've decided to pick one area/aspect a month to work on.

I love to craft, but I've not been doing as much of it lately. I want to work on one project a month. I would like to have a supply of cards on hand, just in case I need to send one out. I also want to try my hand at some new things.

And, speaking of new things, I want to keep my mind active, and learn new things this year. Not sure what yet, but I want to research new topics and find new interests. I'll be honest, part of this goal is in response to things I've read about warding off Alzheimers. Researchers say you should learn new things and keep your mind active, and that's what I want to do. It scares me to see what my mom is going through, and I would love to avoid it at all costs. There's no magic pill to immunize yourself from Alzheimers, but if there is something that can help, I'm willing to try it.

So, there are my goals for 2012. I plan on taking time each month to reevaluate and adjust goals if needed. I set goals that would allow me to work on new things each month as well, all while working to accomplish a common goal. I'm excited for this year!

Our 2011!

Our 2011 was filled with lots of snow and sunny days on the beach; some scary storms and opportunities for learning and growth; health scares and growing another year older; play rehearsals and DI competitions; scout camps and hospital volunteering; surgery and recovery; family pictures and family togetherness; Christmas Festival and Opryland Lights; adventures in food, driving, fashion and hobbies; fun nights out, and quiet movie nights at home; tears, hugs, laughter and love.

Here's to 2012 and all that it holds! We are looking forward to it!

Looking back before looking forward

I saw this quote on Pinterest today that said something to the effect that God put eyes in the front of our heads so we would look forward, not back. While that is pretty good advice, sometimes you have to look back to evaluate where you've come from, see what kind of progress you have made, and determine what steps to take so you can more productively move forward.

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been too focused on setting my goals for the new year. I'll be honest... I haven't even thought about them. I've kind of had other things on my mind. But, I have been thinking about the goals I set for myself last year, and wanted to evaluate myself on those before I earnestly plan ahead for the new year.

1. Weight management/Fitness
This has always been an issue for me. I was not overweight in my teen years, but I was never the skinny-minny, either. It's been a long time, though, since I was happy with the way I looked. "Lose weight" has always been on my new year's resolution list, but this past year I wanted to focus more on being healthy that just losing weight. It's been a tough year for me, health wise. I've had some scares with my health, but thankfully they turned out to be nothing more than scares. I do think, though, that those scares helped me focus on this goal a little more. I definately worked harder this year to be healthier. I lost 30 pounds this year! I ate better, excersized more, and felt better. I was able to buy some new pants for myself in December that were 2 and 3 sizes smaller than the last pants I bought for myself.

2. Leave work stress at work - don't bring it home
I hope I did better with this. I think I did better during the first part of the year than the latter end. I tend to let things get to me way too much, and then I bring home the stress and take it out on my family. I'm trying harder to let go of the stress. I still need to improve on it, though.

3. Let go of negativity
This kind of goes along with #2. When I made this goal, I found myself really being a "Negative Nelly", and I hated that. I remember having a friend in Nashville that was this way, and after a while it became really draining to be around her. I found myself being that type of person, and decided that I needed to change. I haven't felt as negative, so I am hoping that I've not seemed that way towards others.

4. Stamp more
Yeah... this one totally flopped! I love to stamp. Rubber stamping has been a hobby of mine for around 20 years. I can't draw a straight line, but stamping let me be creative without having to worry about that! I really enjoy card making. I actually had purpose behind this goal, which tied in with number 5...

5. Listen to promtings of the Spirit and ACT!
So, here is my little story. After a great church meeting, I heard that one of the leaders of this meeting was having a hard time in her calling. I thought that I needed to send her a card, expressing my appreciation for her efforts, and letting her know that she was doing a great job. Then I realized that I would need to make a card, since I didn't have any extra's around the house. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't get a card made, let alone sent. That really made me feel guilty, and I realized that if I set a goal to stamp more, then I would have things like that on hand for any occassion. Then I realized how often I feel prompted to do something, and just don't do it... not because I don't want to do it, but I find that I either get busy with something else, or honestly just forget that it needs to be done. I'm sorry to say that I didn't do so well with this goal, either. Something else to work on in the coming year.

We made a goal as a family to engage in at least one service opportunity each month. We did ok with this. We did do one act of service in the community together. My parents provided many opportunities for service, and we found ourselves doing more things there than anywhere else. I'm happy that we could help them, and I see many more service opportunities with them in the future. However, I would also like to find things in our community that we can help with.

So, now it's time for me to earnestly think about my goals for the upcoming year. What changes do I need to make to be a better person? What kind of things do I want to accomplish? What goals do I want to set to help me grow, or challenge myself? Hmmm... time to think! I'll post those soon!

My dad

Sorry... this is going to be a very long post, but since this is basically my journal, I want to get all of this down.

I took this picture of my dad several years ago. He got a little ill with me for trying to take pictures of him while he was working in his garden. Maybe he really wanted me to grab a hoe and help him rather than just stand there taking his picture!

My dad has always been a hard worker. He grew up during/after the depression on his grandparent's farm. He and momma eloped when he was 19 and she was 17. They have been married for over 60 years. Dad developed diabetes a few years ago, but has been able to manage it pretty well. Since mom has been getting worse, though, he has been sliding on his own care. He has been sick a lot and just not feeling well for a while. We have been on to him about getting to the doctor, but he just nods and tells us that he will get to it.

He gave us quite a scare this week. My sister, Krist, called me on Thursday afternoon, and I knew immediately that something was wrong. I excpected it to be something with my mom. She is slipping into the final stages of alzheimers, and things have been touch and go with her lately. The day before Christmas she fell and broke her wrist... 3 or 4 weeks ago she fell and broke her pelvis. It's just been one thing after another. But, when she managed to say, "it's daddy", my heart fell to my knees.

She then told me they were in the ER with him in Tullahoma, Tn, which is about 25 minutes from where they live. He had called and asked my oldest sister, Carol, to come get him and take him to the hospital because something was wrong. She called Kristi and asked what was going on, because Kristi lives on the farm, right next to my parents. She didn't know that anything was wrong, but she grabbed her blood pressure cuff and went over to check on him. His blood pressure was 220/115, and got Carol to come sit with mom, and took daddy to the ER. By the time they got him there, he had lost use of all his limbs, and he was mumbling incoherently. Once inside, he went from being nonresponsive to combative, and the nurses had to give him several rounds of sedatives. His blood sugar was 1131! He was headed towards a diabetic coma quickly, and we were lucky that he got to the hospital when we did.

I was in the middle of grocery shopping when she called, so I quickly finished up, came home and packed a few things, then headed up there. She called me about 30 minutes later to tell me they were going to have to transport him to another hospital, but they weren't sure which one yet. He needed urgent, critical care, but they were full and couldn't take him. By the time I got there, they had found another hospital to take him, Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tn. They decided to med flight him there so he wouldn't have to spend so long in an ambulance. We decided that I would head to Chattanooga to be with him, Kris would head home to be with mom, and Carol needed to get to her house to take care of herself (she has diabetes and congestive heart failure, and making an emergency trip was not something she was capable of doing).

Before they could leave with him, they noticed that he was having some very labored breathing, and his pulse ox was very low. They decided to intubate him before the flight so that he would be stable during the flight. That was hard. We left the room because we couldn't stand the thoughts of seeing that. We watched them load him on the gurney, strap him in, and head out the door.

I had Megan with me, and the two of us watched the med flight take off, then we hit the road. It was about 6:30 or 7:00 by this time, and it took us a little over an hour to get there. Of course, there is an hour time difference between Tullahoma and Chattanooga, so it was after 9:00 when we got there. We found out way to the hospital, got parked, then wandered the hospital trying to find him. The guard at the info desk was sure he had been taken to the ER, but he wasn't there. They helped me locate him, and we had to go back through the hospital and wind our way to the 4th floor to the cardiac care unit. They let us come in for a few minutes to see him, then sent us down to the waiting room until the doctor could see him and come talk to us. Finally, around midnight I was able to talk to someone. Of course they didn't have a lot of info at that time of night, but it was reassuring to talk to someone. We wandered back down to the waiting room to try and sleep for a while, but that was impossible. All the reclining chairs had been taken, there was a tv blaring, and lots of folks snoring. I texted Kayti and asked her if she could get online and try to find some place for us to stay that night, but by then she couldn't find anything with a vacancy. Being exhausted, we decided to try and sleep in the van. We had pillows and a blanket, so off we headed on our little adventure! We dozed, but we were both freezing, and I was starting to wonder if I would ever feel my feet again! We headed back to the waiting room around 6-ish and got warmed up. We couldn't go up to see dad until 10:00, so we just hung out for a while, and played games on my kindle.

They had hoped to be able to take his tube out that morning, but when  they did a test run of it, his oxygen levels went down again. They also hoped to take him off the sedative, but when they stopped that, he got combative again and tried to take the tubes out. He wasn't waking up enough to be cooperative and really understand what was going on... he just would wake up enough to know something was there that shouldn't be, and he would fight to get it out. They had to restrain his hands and feet, which was hard to see.

After we saw daddy that morning, we left to try and find something to eat and a hotel room for the night. The sweet nurse that was taking care of dad gave me a list of hotels that offered a discounted rate to patient's families. We went to one hotel, but they only had one room left for the night, and it was a smoking room. We thought we could handle it, but quickly found out we couldn't. We returned the keys and left to go find something else. We finally did, but they were not going to have our rooms ready for a few hours. We found a Wal-Mart, grabbed some lunch, got a few things to warm up for dinner as well, then finally were able to check in. We got back to the hospital in time to see dad for the afternoon visitation. He had been really restless while we were gone, and looked like he might be trying to wake up. He would open his eyes occassionally, but he couldn't really focus on anything or anyone.

Meg and I decided to go on back to the hotel and crash. We missed the evening visitation, but one of my nephews came down to see him. He told me that daddy had pulled his IV out, and they had to put it back in. They got some more sedative in him and he had finally calmed down.

We slept really well on Friday night! It was hard to wake up!! But once we did, we had a yummy breakfast in the hotel, packed up and headed back to the hospital. They had said they were going to try again to take the tubes out, but when we went in to see him, they were still there. He had started to develop a lot of fluid in his lungs, and the tubes were not only providing extra oxygen, but they were also draining off a lot of the fluid and congestion. We opened his eyes a lot more during that visit. I held his hand and would squeeze it. He would squeeze back every once in a while. At one point I had to let go of him to sign some paperwork, but he wouldn't let go of me! He grabbed my hand tighter and I couldn't get it free. The nurse laughed and told me not to worry about it, she would hold the clipboard for me so I didn't need that hand! We teased that at one point he opened his eyes briefly after I said something, and it looked like he was rolling his eyes at us!

I had planned on coming home after that visit. I had already been told that there were no hotel rooms in the city that night, and I knew we couldn't stay in the car again. The waiting room was still full, and short of fighting someone for a recliner, I wasn't sure what else to do. I decided, though, that I didn't want to leave him just yet. I had hoped he would be awake and alert... that would have been easier to leave than intubated and sedated. I decided to stay until I could see him again during the afternoon session. Barry was concerned about me driving home too late last night since it was New Year's Eve and the crazies seem to come out in droves. I figured, though, that if I left there by 5:00 (their time), I could get home by 6:00 (our time). When I went back in to see him, he was resting very well. They had put a bite-stopper in his mouth, and that kept him from gagging so much on the tubes. He looked peaceful, and I felt a little better about leaving him. I also knew that Kristi planned on going to be with him today, and those two things together made it easier to leave.

Meg and I got home safe and sound, and totally exhausted! I crawled in bed and didn't leave it again! I raised my head from my pillow at midnight, then fell back asleep. I missed two very important texts from my sisters... even though my phone was right by me head!

Daddy woke up around 1:00 this morning!! He woke up, was totally alert, and was able to have the tubes pulled! He couldn't believe where he was, or how he had gotten there. He asked for a phone and called Carol. She sent a text to us after she talked to him, but I didn't see it until almost 8:00 this morning. By then, Kris had texted too, and I had missed hers as well! As soon as I read both of them, I called the hospital and asked to speak to dad. He was very hoarse and hard to understand, but he's never sounded so good! I broke down and cried. I wanted to jump back in the car and drive right back down there!

We got even better news this afternoon... his lungs are really clearing up nicely, his kidneys are greatly improving, and they will probably move him to a regular room tomorrow! We are so thrilled by this news. We were really beginning to wonder yesterday if he was ever going to wake up. We have also worried about how he will have to treat his diabetes now, but they are going to start him back on the meds he was taking (they've had in on an insulin drip) tomorrow and see how that goes. They hope that will do and he will not have to start giving himself shots, or have to have a pump.

Tonight I am in the dog-house with him. He doesn't remember that I was there for two days... he just knows that I wasn't there today and he's not happy with me because of it. Kris reassured him that I had been there, but I'm not sure he believes her. Hopefully I will see him in a few days and I'll hand him a bill for gas, hotel, food, parking, etc... maybe then he will believe that I was there!

I've been saying "thank-you" prayers all day long. I'm so grateful that he is improving so much. I can't wait to get him home where he belongs! Now that he is awake, he has been worried about mom, and is missing her. She has been missing him, too. Hopefully we can take her up to see him once he is in a regular room. Visiting hours won't be so strict, and she can visit with him longer.

I guess I had better go try to call him. Maybe that will get me out of hot water!

Catch-up Post

I've got some major catch-up to do on my blog, so please forgive this marathon post...

Happy Birthday, Josh!
My "baby" boy number 1 celebrated his 18th birthday on Dec. 12th. So hard to believe that he is this old!! His birthday celebration started on the Saturday before his birthday... Daddy took him shopping and let him pick out any video game he wanted. He spent the rest of the day playing his game of choice. Because I had someplace to be on the night of his birthday, we had his favorite dinner (chicken parm) and cake on Sunday night.
Josh had mentioned to me that he would love to have a party, but he is certainly not a party planner and couldn't come up with anything to do for a party. So, I decided to throw a surprise party for him. I enlisted the help of a friend, and she helped me pull everything together. On the Saturday following his birthday, several of Josh's friends from his production class and church came over to help him celebrate... and he was very surprised! He enjoyed the party greatly, and it was so much fun to pull it off for him.
I've been a little weepy over this birthday. Hard to think that this time next year I will be getting ready to send him off on his mission. Time truly has flown by.

Happy Birthday, Kyle!
"Baby" boy number 2 celebrated his 16th birthday on Dec 22nd. He had a huge party planned, and he thought he had taken care of all the details. He had a pretty good plan, he had invited all his friends, and he thought he had a good handle on things, but he forgot one tiny detail... to talk to mom about the plans!! His plan included an all day party with the boys playing football and video games, then sending them home to shower and clean up for the rest of the party... movies with some girls at our house. Mom simplified those plans to having the boys come over a little earlier than the girls to play video games, then movies with the girls. He agreed to that, and had an enjoyable evening!

He hasn't asked anyone out yet, but we was actually asked out! A young lady from another ward asked him to go to her school's winter formal with her. He said yes, but he doesn't want it to be his first date. The dance is towards the end of January, so he had better hurry and get to planning another date soon! He was ordained a priest at church today, and he is very excited about that.

Christmas
We had a wonderful Christmas. Barry had a couple of days before Christmas off, so once we got out of school, we took a day and headed to Nashville. I love going to the Opryland Hotel and looking at all the lights, and so off we went. We went earlier in the day, and avoided some of the crowds. It was great spending a relaxing day together with the family.

Christmas Eve was spent driving around Huntsville enjoying the lights around town. It's been one of our traditions for years. We then visited with some long-time friends before heading home and crawling into bed. Christmas morning was wonderful... we had a fire going in the fireplace, we read the Christmas story from Luke, and I enjoyed watching the excitement in the kids as they opened their presents. We had a yummy breakfast, then enjoyed a Christmas program at church. It was a nice addition to the day. We topped the evening off with a wonderful dinner with the Mayfield family at the Callahan's home.

Monday morning we got to sleep in a bit, then headed to the farm to spend some time with my family. We had another yummy Christmas dinner, and let the kids open presents there.

The kids had fun making their gifts for their cousins this year. They bought their own materials and made their own gifts. I helped a little, but it was pretty much all them. They also decided that they wanted to draw names and buy for each other this year. The set their own limits and used their own money for that as well. They even decided that they should buy something for me! I told Kayti one day that I wanted time to stand still for Christmas! They are all growing up so quickly and I can't stand it! So, they decided to get me a watch this year... they decided that since they couldn't stop time, they would at least give me nice way to keep up with it!

Barry and I decided to buy each other a new bed for Christmas. We haven't gone shopping for it yet, but I'm excited to go. We've needed a new bed for years, and so we decided to give that to each other this year. Of course, before we made that decision, I had already bought him a Kindle Fire, so he was really spoiled this year! When I told him that I already had something under the tree for him to open, he went and got a hot chocolate maker for me! My stocking stuffers included all the yummy "fixings" for hot chocolate... candy canes, 2 different kids of marchmallows, whipped cream, chocolate cookies! He also got me two boxes of hot chocolate mix. The machine is so cool! We used it the morning after Christmas and enjoyed some hot chocolate at the perfect temperature!

He also gave me the absolute perfect stocking stuffer... a coupon book for 12 dates for the next year! He came up with some great ideas, and I'm looking forward to cashing in a date each month!

Kids
The kids spent couple of days at their grandparents' house. They were planning on staying one night, but texted asking if they could stay for one more. I wasn't really surprised! They love staying over there... maybe it's because Granny spoils them rotten! She takes them to the store as soon as they get there and lets them each buy their own cereal (they ALWAYS get the most sugar-filled box they can find since I never buy that kind), they each pick out a snack food, and they grab chicken nuggets and french fries. She claims she gets some work out of them, but I think for the most part they just lay around watching movies, playing games, visiting with cousins and being generally lazy! What else are grandparents for though, right!? I'm so thankful that we live so close to family, and they get the opportunity to do these kinds of things. Barry and I neither one grew up around grandparents or cousins, and we feel blessed that our kids do.

The kids are growing up way too quickly. It's been heavy on my heart that they will all soon be leaving me. Kayti hopes to be in Rexburg at BYU-I by next fall. Josh will be leaving in about a year for his mission. Kyle and Megan are both in high school and will be out of the house, too, before you know it. Every time I think about it too long, I am reduced to a puddle of tears. I am proud of them, though! They are great kids, and I feel so blessed to be their mother. They still have the ability to drive me batty, but they are fun to be around. For the most part, they all get along very well... if things get too quiet around here, I can usually find them all in the girls' room, listening to music, watching something online, or just talking together. Not that they don't fight and argue, too, but thankfully that is not a constant.

I missed the kids while they were gone. I had thought of some things that I needed to do while they were not here, but I was completely lazy and didn't do a thing! I've slept in every morning, and lounged half the day. Going back to work next week is going to kill me!

We hope you had a great Christmas!

Christmas Decor, Galore!

I love the Christmas season! I love decorating, I love baking, I love the music, I love it all!

This year I was asked if I would help out (in a very small way) with this year's church Christmas Festival. It's a magical event every year that our church puts on for the community - a beautiful concert featuring a choir and orchestra, more nativities than you can count, amazingly decorated trees, christmas quilts, a live nativity, yummy gingerbread cookies, and several decorated mantels. I've helped out before - all the Mayfield girls did a tree one year. Last year I was asked to do a tree by myself, but declined to do so. This year I was asked to decorate one of the mantels. I really wanted to say no again, but after talking to my hubby (who reassured me that I could actually do it) I decided to go ahead and say yes.

I decided that I wanted to do something musical, because music is such a huge part of the Christmas season for me. I also knew that I wanted it to have a vintage feel to it, because I've been loving that look lately. I decided that I wanted to do paper trees, so I started shopping for vintage sheet music and decorative papers. I found the sheet music at my favorite antique store in Fayeteville a couple of months ago, and was so excited!!

It took me a while to actually get the whole idea more cemented together. I came upon the line, "Oh come let us adore him" from the hymn, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" and then it all fell into place.

I spent several days this week at the church - started taking stuff over on Tuesday night; decorated my space on Thursday night; helped a friend with her space and some finishing touches on Thursday night. Since I was there before all the crowds, I was able to take a few pictures. I also gave Meg the camera and she took lots of pictures, too.

Friday night I took a friend from work to the Festival. We enjoyed the concert, live nativity, and oohed and ahhed over everything. It was fun to see it through her eyes as well. As I sat there in the concert, I felt the sweetest spirit. Things have been really stressful for the past couple of weeks, and it has been a bit hard for me to feel the Christmas spirit at all. Before the choir even started singing, though, I was almost in tears. I felt the reassuring presence of the Spirit, and of my Heavenly Father's love. I felt renewed. I want to go back again tonight, and Sunday night as well, just to feel more of that spirit! I will definately be looking for better ways to bring that spirit into my home.

Here are some pictures of my mantel, and some of our other favorites:

I would seem really ungrateful if I didn't say thank you to Shari K, Rachel R, Dana H, Alisha M, Mandi H, Rebekah P and Kayti and Meg for all of their help with this project! And also, my sweet hubby for putting up with all my crazy stress! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!