One more post!

I had to get in one more post before September tomorrow.  I have crazy psychotic OCD (or so says my husband who just shakes his head at me during my craziness).  My OCD comes out bad when I am doing laundry and especially if you look in my closet.  But the reason I had to get one more post in before the next month starts is because of the pattern that I noticed this month regarding the number of posts I have posted each month.  I was looking through the right side of my blog the other day and I was looking at my blog archive and I noticed a pattern that my OCD is making me continue doing because if I don't it will drive me CRAZY!  Jan (1) Feb (2) Mar (1) Apr (2) May (1) Jun (2) Jul (1) and according to the pattern I have to do 2 posts this month so here is the 2nd one.  I. AM. CRAZY.

The week before we all got really sick which was the week before I started back to work the kids and I did a lot of fun things.

-Monday we went to Kangaroo Zoo (a giant bouncy play place my kids love).  We went with a friend and her kids from our ward.

 I was so amazed that Kayzee climbed right up this huge slide with Memphis.  Last time we came she wouldn't even go near it.  She loved it.  She is getting so brave!

-Tuesday we went to Farm Country for $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point.  It was crowded and hot but the kids had fun feeding the farm animals, riding the ponies, and going on a hay ride.  We went with the same friends and 2 other friends from the ward.

-Wednesday we went to my school so I could attempt to start getting my PE office ready for the new school year.  I got nothing done because taking my kids with me I just end up playing with them in the gym:)

The volleyball net was up so Memphis and I had fun playing with this big giant ball.

 Kayzee loves these fun rubber animals I got from the PE grant last year...especially the penguins:)

-Thursday we went to a fun park in Saratoga Springs.  Memphis tried climbing to the top of this giant climbing pyramid but he wanted his dad to help so we are actually going to go on Monday.  Memphis loved the spinning ride he is sitting on in the front of the picture.

-Friday I went out to lunch with my dearest friend Julie.  It was nice to visit with her and eat yummy Zupas.  That night I had a girl's night out with my friend and co-worker Allison.  We went to Chili's and Danny hung out with her husband at their house so our kids could play.  Their oldest daughter taught our kids a dance so here is a video of their performance.  The little girl on the right is Kayzee's best friend.  Kayzee calls her "sister" and Kate calls Kayzee "girlfriend".  They sure are enjoying going to preschool together this year.

-This is the Friday night I got really sick which I wrote about in my last post.  I had a fever for 8 days, and I missed the first two days of work.  I had also written that Memphis was sick and we were headed to the instacare.  Memphis ended up having strep.  He was so miserable at the doctor's office.  His fever was 104 so they gave him a fever reducer and wrapped him in heated blankets.  They gave us the option of a 10 day antibiotic medicine or a one time shot.  They warned us that the shot was one of the most painful shots but it would work must faster.  I opted for the shot.  Memphis SCREAMED and cried for about an hour and couldn't sit down (shot had to be in his butt cheek:) but the next day he woke up and was his usual self.  No fever and he had his usual crazy energy.  I wish I could have been given that shot!  I blame the strep on Memphis drinking from my cups while I had my fever.  We kept telling him no but we caught him at it several times.  Danny also got really sick!  He has himself to blame for that one though.  He would not stop kissing me when I had my fever and he ended up getting the same virus I had but it manifested itself as painful blisters all over in his mouth and a high fever.  The dr said I had the same blisters in my lungs and that is why I couldn't breathe.  Danny got a mouthwash and the antibiotic cleared me up even though it took about a week after taking it to get fully better.  But luckily Kayzee never got sick.  YAY!

Poor miserable little Memphis...

-Monday Aug 19 I finally started back to school.  I spent the first week still not being able to breathe.  I had to talk about PE rules to 35 classes but I was so out of breath that it ended up being short and sweet.  I have been teaching at this school for 8 years already so the kids already knew the rules so I just had them play kickball the rest of class so I could just sit and watch.  I just finished my second week of school and this week went much better.  I could stand all day and I could run around and demonstrate everything without feeling like I couldn't breathe.  So glad I am finally over that virus!  There is a lot of craziness going on at my school right now with a lot of changes and additional stress so I am glad for this 3 day weekend to get ready and also relax.  I am loving my new PE program and equipment I got from the grant last year!  My students are loving all the fun new games too!

-Tuesday Aug 20 was Memphis and Kayzee's first day of all-day Camelot Kids Preschool at Lone Peak High School.  Memphis went last year and loved it and this year Kayzee got to join him with her friend.  Kayzee LOVES it too.  Kayzee is still only 2 but they let her go because she was potty-trained and Memphis was going there already.

First day of preschool pictures

 With their new backpacks

 Silly Memphis

 Cute Kayzee

-When I got there after school the first day to pick them up their teacher asked me if I had ever seen Kayzee draw or color.  I told her that I had seen her color because she colors in coloring books every day and I knew she could color in the lines already.  What 2 year old do you know that can color in the lines perfectly?  Well, Kayzee can also draw really well.  And by really well I mean incredibly well!  Amazing for how young she is.  Her teacher every day brings me another drawing that she has done and she is just astonished.  I have a little artist on my hands.  She definitely got the art gene that runs in both sides of our family.

Kayzee drew and colored these flowers!

 Kayzee's cow

-One more accomplishment...I finished my lazy triathlon I wanted to finish by Sept 1!  I biked a total of 56.5 miles, walked 15.5 miles, and swam 2 miles.  I was going to start running and training for a 5K coming up but I still don't have the lung capacity for working out that I used to have before I got sick.  I am sure that it will come back so I will just have to slowly get back into jogging and look for another 5K later on.

-Had to post these two videos.  Memphis is getting better at hitting softballs.  We practice every day.  Hoping to get him into coach pitch softball in the next couple years.  And Kayzee loves singing silly songs!  She wasn't too happy when she eventually caught me recording her:)

Sick of being sick!

The last 12 months has been a wild crazy ride that I wish I didn't have to take but oh well that's life!  I have found many blessings through all this and I am so grateful for everyone that have helped us through it all.

I already blogged about Kayzee's adventure and her GI issues.  She is doing a lot better.  I think potty-training her helped a lot.  The only thing we are still figuring out is why she doesn't sleep through the night.  I think the longest stretch she has slept all night every night was two weeks.  Other than that she hasn't been sleeping since she was born.  She wakes up screaming 1-4 times a night.  So needless to say we are all tired at our house.  Yes we have tried everything so our next step is working with the pediatrician to find a specialist or sleep study we can get her into to figure out why she doesn't stay asleep.  Let the new adventure begin!

Here is Kayzee eating lettuce.  She is like a rabbit.  She LOVES veggies and she grazes all day.

Mommy Daughter.  She is looking more and more like me:)

As for me, well, I am literally on a roller coaster but once doctors figured out what was causing me problems the past 12 months I am figuring things out and my symptoms are mellowing out.  Last summer 2012 I was having some really annoying painful symptoms that were definitely not normal.  I don't really want to go into details but the symptoms were bad enough I would end up in bed for a couple days and I would lose too much weight the unhealthy way.  I missed out on a lot of fun activities with family and friends and just the fun that summer holds.  I was getting really frustrated.  And it seemed like every time it got bad enough, I went to the dr and he would just give me stuff to stop the symptoms and knock me out for a few days.  Not a life to live with being a working mom.

The symptoms continued into the school year.  I started missing way too much work because of it all and it was more important to me to figure out what was causing the symptoms then just to stop them only to have them return.  I had already researched my symptoms the best I could and that was why I quit drinking caffeinated sodas.  That helped a lot but it was time to find a dr that would help me.  9 months after symptoms first started my dr finally figured it out and I was diagnosed with IBS-D.  It affects women in their late 20s early 30s and is caused by many reasons.  I went to a GI specialist and we figured out that mine was probably caused by stress.  I don't handle stress very well and I have had a very stressful like 20 years (ha!).  There is no cure but there are ways to alleviate symptoms.  I can no longer have dairy or red meat.  No greasy food (like chinese), no citrus, and no veggies that cause gas.  Basically I am really struggling because cheese and ice cream are the hardest to give up.  I cheat sometimes and bam! I end up in bed in pain or in the bathroom all night.  IT SUCKS!  Pizza is hard too.  Danny gets pizza a lot and I can't have it.  Greasy cheese=PAIN!  But it's my favorite:(

Beginning of May symptoms were really bad that I just wanted to take the drugs that would knock me out but the sub system could not find me a sub so I had to go.  Luckily a BYU dance company was teaching all my classes that day so I just sat in the corner crying in pain.  My dr decided to put me on some medications that would help me get through the rest of the school year.  One of them said I could not be out in the sun and of course I did not have the gym for the rest of the school year.  I thought I might have to go on medical leave but my dr approved me being outside as long as I was sitting under an umbrella.  Not an ideal way to teach PE but it all worked out.  My students are great.  But what a rough month it was.  I was given a blessing at the beginning of the month that said I would have the strength to finish the school year so I know that helped a lot.  I looked it up and realized I missed 42 days of school last year.  NOT GOOD.  That is more days than I take off for maternity leave!  I hope that this school year will go a lot better

When I was in the middle of it all my wonderful mother-in-law told me that I was given this for a reason and I just needed to figure out why.  So insightful and that has made me look at trials in a whole new way.  I now know why I was given this trial and it has helped me a lot.  I needed to get healthy.  I was having a lot of health problems because of my weight so this is definitely helping me get to a healthy weight.  I am eating healthier and exercising also helps alleviate symptoms.  I was looking back through my posts of the last year.  I have lost 50 lbs to date and of that 50 lbs 35 of it was lost just from being sick.  Not a fun way to lose weight at all.  How come when I actually try to lose weight (and I have been trying all year) I only lose 15 but when I don't try the weight comes flying off while I am in pain?  That's life I guess.

This summer 2013 has been the best summer.  Yes I had my down days but they were definitely not as bad as they have been...until this last week.  OF COURSE I get really sick when I am supposed to be back to school.  I have already missed my first two days of school!  Not a good way to start out the school year:(

Friday Aug 9 I woke up in the middle of the night with a really high fever.  Felt so weird how sudden it hit me and woke me up.  I suffered through the weekend and thought it would just be a 3 day fever thing and I would be fine.  Monday morning my fever broke.  I was so glad because I needed to start getting school stuff ready.  But then Monday night my fever came back really high.  We found a babysitter and I went to the instacare that was open that night and of course they were of no help.  They just told me it was a virus and I would just suffer for a few more days and be fine.  But no!  I didn't have time for this.  And I didn't get better.  I got worse.  I didn't sleep at night because I couldn't stop coughing.  I was having trouble breathing and by day 6 with a fever I had had enough.  So missing my first day of school I went to my family dr.  He said a virus definitely doesn't last this long so it must have turned into a bacterial infection.  He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic saying I would feel better in 24 hours so I could go back to work and a cough medicine to knock me out at night.

When I got to the pharmacy they told me the antibiotic was $5000!  WHAT?  Seriously?  So I paid for the cough medicine and the pharmacy sent back suggestions for similar antibiotics for the dr to ok and I went home to wait.  Not hearing anything I kept calling and the dr's office kept telling me they were working on it.  What is there to work on?  By the time 5:00 hit the office was closed.  So I suffered that night and got worse.  the medicine to help me sleep didn't work, my fever got higher, and I was starting to show signs of liver and kidney failure and without eating all week I couldn't move.  In the morning I kept calling and calling but given the same response that he was still working on it I broke down.  My dad told me to go straight to the ER.  Danny didn't want to do that so he got off work and went and chewed out my dr.  That got results fast.  Not two minutes later after Danny called me the pharmacy called me and said they finally got the new prescription from my dr.  Then my dr personally called me to apologize and told me that if I didn't feel better on this antibiotic then I needed to go to the ER.  So far I have been on it 24 hours and two doses and I am actually feeling better.  My fever is gone and haven't been taking as many pain killers and I am eating and my body is functioning better.  WHAT A MESS!

Now the sad news...through all this we have been praying really hard that no one else would get sick because preschool starts for the kids on Tuesday and Danny needs to keep working.  And Danny's family was coming to stay for the weekend.  Yesterday evening I finally emerged from my room and everyone told me that Memphis had a fever and a sore throat.  NOOOOO!  He was quarantined to my room (the sick room) and we are headed to the dr. today so hopefully we can explain my past week and they can get him better right away so he doesn't have to suffer as long.  Stay away from our house!

I am so grateful for everyone who has helped through all this.  I have had two blessings.  So many friends and neighbors have taken the kids for a few hours every day so I could rest.  I couldn't eat or move so meals at our house with Danny coming home from work exhausted were non-existent so my wonderful ward stepped up and yummy food has stocked our fridge.  Danny's family is here watching Kayzee and they bought some groceries too.  I am thankful for my parents listening to me and helping me in every way they can.  WE ARE SO BLESSED.  Now fingers crossed no one else gets sick!

I DID IT!

I did it...I went a whole year without drinking any caffeinated sodas.  I didn't think I could do it having started over many times but getting really sick helped a lot.  And to date I have lost 45 pounds!  I am feeling a lot better except for the couple days a week when my IBS-D lands me in bed but I am just excited I had enough self-control and accomplished something for myself!  I rewarded myself with...what else...a caffeinated soda!  Or two or three;)  I had to drink my three favorites (Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, and Cherry Pepsi) and now here's to another year!  But this time I am going to completely quit all carbonated drinks.

I am also doing a lazy triathlon this summer.  It is basically completing the miles before the end of the summer, doing it at your own pace on your own time.  So basically doing a couple miles a day.  I am doing a 1/2 Ironman so 56 miles of biking, 13.1 miles of running (or in my case walking:), and a 1.2 mile swim.  I did the 1.2 mile swim at Bear Lake.  I have already walked the 13.1 miles and I have biked 25 miles so far.  Biking hauling two kids and a trailer (100 pounds!) is taking me a little longer:)  But I am almost done!  I have also started running because I am going to run a 5k in September!

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While in Blanding for Father's day the Primary class that Memphis went to had them answer some questions about their dad.  And being only 4 years old some of his answers were very creative I had to share...
My dad is---35 years old (ha!)
His hair is---brown
His eyes are---yellow
My dad likes to wear---black
He loves to eat---fruit
He is smart because he is---stronger
My dad works hard at---his workshop (Memphis loves to visit his dad at his mechanic shop)
Daddy always tells me---how
It makes my dad happy when---I am happy (so true:)
If he could go on a trip, he would go---to the ocean
and he would take a---beach ball
I really love it when my dad---comes home (awww:)
If I could give my daddy anything it would be a---present
My favorite thing about my dad is---his helicopter (Memphis bought Danny a helicopter for Father's day but he hadn't opened it yet so I wouldn't let Danny read this letter till after)

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We had a busy July too with lots of traveling...
We went to Blanding for the 4th of July.  We had so much fun!  I have to say that I LOVE going to Blanding and spending time with my Royer family.  I really struggled when we were first married but it is growing on me and I can't wait to go again.  When I told Danny this he asked if it was enough for me to move down there...he knows the answer to that question!  We even planned to go down there two weeks after our 4th of July trip but I ended up going to Bear Lake the weekend between and I was all vacationed out after our busy June and the trip fell through anyways so here's to next time!

We got to stay longer this trip because 4th of July was on a Thursday so Danny got off work early on Wednesday so we could get there that night and we stayed till Sunday.  It was a very crowded house but we had fun.  4th of July celebrations in Blanding are a lot of fun, we played a lot of games, and we got to spend some time boating and tubing.  Thanks for the wonderful holiday weekend!

Watching the Blanding 4th of July parade!

 Memphis ran in a race for 3-4 year olds

 He won 2nd place!  His prize was 2 dollars...he was so excited and bought himself some cotton candy:)

 Waiting for fireworks to start...Blanding has an amazing fireworks show!

 Dancing with cousins

 Kayzee and Grandma...awwww!

 Memphis LOVES tubing.  He is such a daredevil and a thrill seeker.  One time that he was on the tube with Daddy they tipped over and went flying into the water.  Danny came up searching for Memphis and he was just floating in the water laughing.  Gotta love this kid:)

 Memphis and Uncle Benny

 Kayzee and Auntie Nita relaxing in the sun

 Love my Mary!

 As soon as we got in the car after our day swimming, boating, and tubing Memphis and Kayzee PASSED OUT!  And not too comfortably either...

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As soon as we got home I did laundry and then just repacked everything and headed up to Bear Lake.  It was a last minute decision but I am glad I went.  My grandparents have a time-share condo there and I knew a crowd of all my cousins were coming Friday night so I headed up there Thursday morning by myself with Memphis and Kayzee because Danny had to work.  I got there before my grandparents got there with a key so we went to the park and then Memphis just couldn't wait any longer, he HAD to go swimming.  I was nervous because I had never been there by myself with two kids but it went so well!  The condo has three pools.  A hot tub, a kiddie pool, and a big pool with a water slide.  Kayzee would not leave the kiddie pool, she told me she was a mermaid and she loved the shallow water.  Memphis of course loved the big pool with the water slide and with his arm floats on he could swim all by himself.  I got to spend time swimming with each of them and still keep an eye on each of them.  We had FUN!

 Kayzee's curls...all natural.  LOVE THEM!

My cousin Stephanie came Thursday night with her 4 kids (two of her kids were born the same time as my two kids) so it was fun to hang out with them.  Since I don't see her very often it was nice to visit with her.  Friday morning we went to the lake till lunchtime and then we went swimming for hours!  My aunt Sandra and my grandma came too.  We headed back to the condo and everyone else started showing up.  As soon as Memphis sat down on the couch he was out.  He is a non-stop swimmer.  And he started jumping in doing crazy stunts like cannon balls, twirls, and flips.  He would even stop himself at the bottom of the slide and then jump in.  For dinner we had a hot dog and marshmallow BBQ with everyone.  Good thing my grandma was able to rent another condo to fit everybody for the weekend.

Saturday morning we went miniature golfing with Stephanie and her kids and then we left to drive home.  Thanks Grandma for letting us use the condo!  We had a blast!

 Kayzee found this baby bird that had fallen out of its nest and it was trying to get back up the tree.  She stood there for an hour singing to the bird and showing everyone that walked by.  To this day she still talks about the baby bird.

On our way home we stopped in Logan and fed the ducks!  When we ran out of bread and the huge geese started chasing them we knew it was time to go;)

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The Saturday we got home from Bear Lake, Danny had his work party that evening.  The company rents out the Pleasant Grove water park and they have a BBQ and then swimming.  MORE SWIMMING...Memphis was in heaven:)  And the water slides were way bigger so even better!  Kayzee enjoyed the little baby slide.  Let's just say my kids slept so good that night!

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Now that we are home we are keeping busy with park groups (we meet up with different friends and family everyday all over Utah county.  It has been fun.  We frequent all the splash pads a lot because it's hot!

We also keep cool in the bathtub!  Crazy hairdos!  So photogenic:)

We also went to Despicable Me 2 as a family.  What a great family fun date!

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One last crazy story to finish off July...
The other night Danny and I went to get a popsicle and they were a little mushy which was weird but we didn't really think anything of it.  I thought that maybe the freezer door had been left open a little by one of the kids because they are always climbing up on stools to get popsicles out.  The next morning at 5:30 am Danny called me on his way to work and told me to go unplug the fridge.  Really strange call to wake up to and I was a little mad because Kayzee had been up till 1 am screaming and I was exhausted so I didn't want to go downstairs but he sounded urgent so I ran down there.  As soon as I pulled the fridge away from the wall the heat definitely took me by surprise.  The wall behind the fridge and the fridge were burning hot.  Luckily we have another fridge and freezer in our garage so I saved some of the food.

Later when Danny got home he told me he had a vision of the house catching on fire and the prompting came to unplug the fridge.  So thankful he listened!  I really don't mind not getting enough sleep if it means we still have a house!  That was on Wednesday and we couldn't go shopping for a new fridge till Friday when Danny got paid.  We price-matched online and found the fridge we wanted and could afford at Sears.  Danny had his yearly eye-exam already scheduled at Sears so perfect timing.  Since we have a Sears card we got an even better deal and we got $100 dollars back in store-credit.  We did some early Christmas shopping and got some presents for free!!!!  Unfortunately they can't deliver the fridge till this Thursday but oh well.  When Memphis saw the fridge moved to the middle of the kitchen and we told him it died he said we were going to need a really really big garbage can to throw it away in!   What an adventure.  Now here's hoping none of our other appliances decide to quit on us;)

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That's it for now.  Sorry for the long post.  I need to blog more often:)  Now I just need summer to slow down because I do not want to go back to school!