frustration!

so blogger says I can't down load any more photos... how is this possible? this is my 819th post... I know many of you have way more posts & photos. I think I am getting ripped off. Maybe I should just quit this blog & start another one?

I am very frustrated & want to blog about ----

1. I went to lunch today with my college roomate Marji, who lives in Texas- but has been visiting family here ... I love her & have a great picture. My freshman year of college was one of the best years of my life.

2. Trent has been sick. We drove home from Charlie's baby blessing on Sunday(4 1/2 hours) as fast as we could because of vomit & diahrea. It was scary- then it was bad- then it was funny. Poor kid. Let me just say, you've gotta have a sense of humor in life.... and yes, the new car smell is officially gone from my car.

3. We had a wonderful time with some of the blogger moms for new years eve tonight until trent jumped off a couch & slammed his Nintendo DS Lite into his right eye. He may have a black eye tomorrow. I always wanted a black eye as a kid- I have always been kind of an attention seeker, like you didn't know that?- he moaned & hollered like he was dying & said the pain was so bad- it was worse than a charlie horse. Geez Louiz- I told him he could cry as much as he wanted but the wailing had to stop. My goodness! We had to leave, dang- we were having so much fun- and he fell asleep the very second he got home. I think he was mostly tired.

4. We had tons of treats (i've got a good photo of that too) and played cards & ya... now I am home blogging instead.

five things- photo free

1. Yesterday blogger informed me that I have uploaded the maximum amount of photos.

has anyone else ever done that? what did you do, buy more space from picasa- or delete some? I am going to look into it right away--- I have ten thousand photos to down load from Christmas, and those are just the ones of Charlie!

2. Today I went back to the urologist in a snow storm. My appointment was at 8:00 AM- downtown. I left 40 minutes early. It was snowing hard. 35 MPH on the freeway. No accidents, but oh so beautiful in the city... I actually loved the drive.

3. There is no trace of kidney stone! It could still be there- most likely I passed it but didn't catch it, since I stopped straining urine 4 days after the pain quit. Gee Whiz- straining urine -not so fun- but more fun than the two patients in rooms on either side of me were having! I could here every word of their pre-vasectomy exam. Oh gosh, the first guy was absolutely sure he was ready because his wife would, "never say yes again if he didn't do it." I really wonder what they are thinking of my passed kidney stone & the fact that I need to drink more water & lemonade, eat less salt & less meat? I'm sure they heard all about it- and ya they don't care... they were having vasectomies!

4. We have at least 6 inches of snow. It snowed all day yesterday & most of the day today. It seems like we should have 12 inches with all that, but I'm glad we don't.

5. Trent played outside for at least 2 hours. The boys are gone, Chloe is at a friend's house, Trent is too- hailey may be leaving-- I finally have the computer to myself & I can't download pictures!

awe dang-

grandma & grandpa's house

A week ago today-

Charlie made his first visit to Grandma's house.

It was glorious!

He was passed around a lot-

but didn't seem to mind it...

We are all completely smitten in love!

and sad...

sad that he left Sunday morning.

Life will never be the same-

it will forever be better with Charlie in our world.

late night... ahem- early morning blogging

so I woke up this morning feeling pretty good-- nice!

I called the Dr. & canceled my surgery, then ate another piece of almond poppy seed cake... mmm. My sweet friend & fellow scout leader Lori brought it by last night & tonight it is GONE BABY. Because I have no pain or frequency or burning I decided to wait until after Christmas- then see if it's still there. Why deal with it now if it's not causing me issues -right? Plus what if I passed it & missed it...? that would be bad- surgery for nothin' man would that make me mad.

Today has been a whirlwind of activity & I am finally getting my turn to blog at 12:30 AM. I'm really tired & Brian is taking pictures of me with my camera. Holy crap that kid can be annoying. (This is Brian, I figured that taking pictures at such an inconvenient time would only be appropriate and well deserved having lived in such circumstances for so long ourselves... I speak for the rest of the family)

So today jack applied for his passport. He needs to get a Visa so we are hoping it comes back fast-- plus I paid the big bucks to have it expedited. I wrapped a million & 1/2 presents, finished up the neighborhood gifts, went to costco, returned stuff before the after Christmas crazy rush, picked up RX's, did laundry (it has tripled since the boys got home), made dinner, bought everything I need for Christmas & Christmas Eve dinner... I'm so tired. Ten--- TEN people will be in this house soon. Presents for TEN are under the tree. wow. I love it. I am feeling very blessed & cannot wait for Charlie to be here tomorrow.

Not my best self portrait. That darn lazy eye gets me every time...

but so funny- I couldn't resist posting it anyway

I kind of look like I did have the surgery?

catching up....

Just like everyone else...

I've been really busy these last couple of days.

I feel like I am running mad, then when I want to blog someone else is on the computer!thursday the blogger moms had our annual Christmas luncheon & I made this-

The Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread

OH MY GOSH- heaven on a piece of bread is all I can say. My husband hates olives & i've been dying to make this for a year or more. This was the perfect opportunity. I do have to say that the olive cheese topping was over the top & a little too much for even me. Next time I make it

and I will make it again

-- oh yes--

I will use two loaves of bread or half the topping recipe, but it was fabulous!

I just cannot resist posting a picture of these gifts!
It's better than Christmas morning.
I love the blogger moms....

Thursday night we had company & went to the H.S. Christmas Choir concert. Hailey sang a solo- beautiful. We came home to marcus, brittany & brittany who stayed up & talked mission & Brazil talk with the kids, I went to bed. marcus served his mission in Recife, Brazil just north of where jack is going. They had so much fun talking & jokin around in Portuguese. Marcus can't wait for jack to come home so they can talk it up.

Friday morning all hell broke loose as I had my pre- Christmas melt down.
ya- it was ugly & ya- I pretty much do this every year.
It stinks to be my kids, well this year- my boys.
I woke up & jack's college stuff was everywhere- dishes & cups all over the counters- and I snapped. I had cleaned everything before I went to bed, then got up 1000 times during the night to pee into a strainer, when I came downstairs in the morning it all got to me. The kidney pain, constant peeing - having a kidney stone the week before Christmas is not nice and neither am I.


I headed out the door at 8:50 for an appointment with a Urologist down town, by myself. It's been a long time since I have sat in a doctor's office for 40 minutes waiting... I guess I shouldn't complain... but I am anyway...
When I finally gave my sample & headed to the exam room a nightmare awaited. the walls of the exam room must have been paper thin because the lady on the right was having lithrotripcy on Tuesday & the gentleman on the left was having trouble urinating but the catheter they took in & out was working just fine. Holy Hell. I was humming & tapping my feet because I was getting nauseous listening to this.

The doctor gave me three choices. I could #1 wait for the stone to come out & be uncomfortable, which could result in a passed stone or emergency removal. #2 I could have surgery & remove it through my uriter that afternoon or #3 Tuesday afternoon. I asked him to leave the room & started to sob. I had two Christmas events this weekend, plus church the Sunday before Christmas- I didn't want to miss it... and Tuesday Megan, Tony & Charlie get here. He came back in & I asked him if I could go in Monday.
Monday it is.


Saturday night (after finishing up our shopping) Brett & I went to our third concert at the symphony. It was the Holiday Pops concert.

this guy deserves a medal, being married to me... it's been a rough week.

the concert was nice, but definitely not my favorite of the series.

EXCEpT- they did play Sleigh Ride- one of my favorite Christmas songs. I love the percussion & dream of being the percussionist who gets to slap the boards together! How fun to watch that!! Brett bought me a small pair of binoculars after our last concert so my eyes were peeled & I was smiling big. Brett was sleeping. At one point he feel asleep so hard that he dropped his program & it hit the wood floor with a loud thud. oops. Like I said, it wasn't our favorite of the series but I really enjoyed it.

this morning this guy came downstairs and asked me "which jacket should I wear to church today?" one is his dad's - the other fit him in kindergarten, maybe? Well, I said... maybe a shirt & tie will do? Trent has NEVEr wanted to wear church clothes- it's been an issue with him for years. I figure what the heck, he's going to church- so I don't push it too hard. He wears dress pants maybe a sweater & dress shoes, but never a shirt & tie- heaven forbid a suit. Maybe all this missionary talk has changed his mind?

Good news tonight-

I haven't had had to go potty 1000 times a day today & NO pain! I'm thinking about canceling tomorrow... ya - I'm canceling :)

p.s. some of the photos in this post were taken by Chloe & I love them so here they are!

*are you glad you read this post, or was it just plain too much information?

The REVEAL: missionary jack... no words needed- well, maybe a few

( Megan is listening)

(he's chokin' up... lots of tears, the good kind)

(He hugged me next.. .but I don't have photos of that)

(CAlling Marcus)

Maceio, Brazil

April 7, 2010....

here he comes