tag...you're it!...

Miss September tagged me so I decided to post this before my Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona post since I just got home and I'm too tired, dirty and sun burnt to pick through a bunch of pictures. Yes, the pasty white girl got fried again and yes, my boys teased me about it again. Also, my camera battery died last night so I have no pictures of today's fun...and I looked kind of cute and now there's no proof. Well Mark thought I looked pretty cute. Does that count? :o)

7 Things I Plan To Do Before I Die

1. Be debt free.
2. Have a grand daughter and a bunch more grand sons
3. Reach my goal weight (impressive goal date, huh?!)
4. Learn all the things my camera can do
5. Be up to date on my scrapbooks
6. Live a life on service, love and fun
7. Learn to ride a motorcycle (maybe) :o)

7 Things I Do Now

1. Play on the computer way too much.
2. Clean up after and cook for piggies
3. Exercise even if I don't want to
4. Have fun with family and friends
5. Make other people happy
6. Take lots of pictures
7. Apparently burn and peel

7 Things I Can't Do

1. Smile without bells palsy showing up in my face
2. Get enough sleep
3. Keep my house as clean as I'd like it
4. Please everyone at the same time
5. Eat most vegetables
6. Remember to bring my camera battery charger
7. Tan

7 Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex

1. Twinkly eyes
2. A cute smile
3. A great personality
4. Sense of humor
5. Charismatic
6. Loves unconditionally
7. Compassionate and kind

7 Things That I Say Most Often

1. Are you honest?
2. I'm honest!
3. Say honest! (do you see a trend?)
4. You have got to be freaking kidding me!
5. Oh my crud!
6. Can you not put the pop tart wrapper IN the trash?
7. Yes, of course I can do...(fill in the blank!)

7 Celebrities That I Admire

I'm totally not doing this part because I don't admire celebrities. I admire people that personally touch my life and no I'm not naming names because I don't want to hurt any ones feelings by leaving them out. Plusalso there are way more than 7 people.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

7 Favorite Foods

1. Mexican
2. Steak
3. Potatoes
4. My alfredo sauce
5. Bread
6. Loads of sweet treats
7. Good home cookin'

7 People Who Need To Do This

...again with the only picking 7 and leaving out others who may want to play along too. I just can't do it! If you want to play then consider yourself tagged by me and tell me in the comments so I can go to your blog to read your answers. If you don't want to play you can still leave me a comment even if it's just to make fun of my answers. :o) If you don't have a blog then feel free to email me your answers.
Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend. I know I am!

Who's suppose to be updating this blog?

I guess that would be me. Okay, I admit it! I stink! I was doing so good at maintaining my blog as well as keeping up with my buddies blogs and now I'm just terrible at both. Of course I've been crazy busy as usual and my head has been elsewhere, but you don't want to hear my lame excuses so I'll just say I'm sorry and try to do better.

Saturday night we were heading to town to watch the eagles concert on DVD at Gene and Desiree's house. Apparently we had to have a full appreciation and be worthy of the music before we go to the "standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona" celebration this weekend. We knew all but 2 songs so we passed the test. :o) Well, just as we were leaving Maricopa we got pulled over by a cop. Just before we got pulled over we spotted our friend Hal who is a Sergeant on the police force. I kept saying to myself, "come on Hal, come back up this dude." So the officer comes over to talk to us and informs us that our tags are expired. I had no idea they were. The ticket for that is HUGE! Sure enough Hal drives up and totally saves our butts...but not before Mark tries to get him to arrest me. Nice, huh?!
Back to Hal in a minute. I've still been really good at going to aerobics, but I wrangled my friend Missy into going with me because I didn't feel I should be made to suffer alone as the only newbie in the class, so we go together and feel the burn together and share each others misery during class. We are both feeling really good about doing it though so it's been worth it. One day we are going to look totally fabulous! Anyways, Missy is Hal's wife and today Hal and his partner/best friend did a stranger danger program at one of the elementary schools dressed up as Sergeant Pepper and Gooburr. Missy and I went to watch them after our aerobics class this morning. They were so dang funny! The kids loved them as well as the adults. It was such an entertaining and none threatening way to teach them about stranger danger. This afternoon I baked Hal some cowpie cookies as a thank you for bailing us out of a ticket. I thought cowpie cookies were fitting since we would have been in deep crap! :o) They are really good cookies with a gross name we came up with because of the rings they get while baking. I know I shared the recipe for them on here before. I just don't remember which month it as in and I'm too tired to look right now.
That's all I've got for now. I had more pictures to share of other activities, but some of them turned out blurry and I didn't want to leave anyone out so I'm not posting any of them. I will have a fun post on Sunday night.

Rams fans, parents and running...

Chad and Hunter are the BIGGEST fans for girls volleyball team. They spent hours designing their shirts today as well as painting their faces and arms to show their true spirit. I helped out with the painting to show my support for Stacey because I'm a cool mom like that. :o) Chad painted his arms black and I did the lettering. The boys look pretty cute and believe me when I say that the girls LOVE them cheering them on.
It's been crazy around here as usual, so most of the house have yet to be put back together. I did however get the front room done. It took some time but I figured out where everything had to be hung and I'm partially done with the mess in the kitchen. There is less chaos in my head if things are clean. Problem is I think my boys like to see the chaos in my head. I went to my first aerobics class at the church this morning and totally got my butt kicked! The girls said it was the easy day...yeah right! I'm getting scared for next weeks classes. I thought I was doing good with my own evening exercise routine at night, but they showed me muscles I forgot I had and my the way those muscles are feeling right now I'm sure they are wishing I would have let them be. They've were perfectly fine being left undisturbed and now I'm going to make them mad for an hour every Monday -Thursday.

What have I been doing you ask? Well....both of my parents have been in the hospital. Yes, BOTH! My dad started out in there with some problems with arthritis and diabetes and ended up getting several units of blood. Then my sisters were sneaky and got the nurses to look at my mom when she came in to visit my dad because she is in worse shape than my dad, but in denial about it. They got one look at her and she was admitted and shortly transferred to a different hospital that could handle a higher level of care. She has several things wrong with her. Along with her diabetes she is not getting enough oxygen. Her lips are always blue and her coloring is off. Her legs are purple and cells are dying. They have no idea how she was even alive. I believe it's a miracle. In the air that we all breathe there is about 21% oxygen that keeps us in the normal levels in the 90's on the thingy bobber that they have her hooked up to. They are giving her 100% oxygen to keep her at a level we all stay at only taking in 21%. Her red blood cells are making too much blood and it's really thick and dark. They have a hard time getting it out of her. During one of the numerous tests they discovered a hole in her heart so she had heart surgery yesterday to repair that. I've been spending my time hospital hopping. My dad was release, but in my mind he was clearly not ready. Then he had the nerve to drive himself to her hospital so he could be there for her surgery. He would totally lie to his doctors and say he was feeling great just to be with my mom. I was with him for most of that time and he wasn't walking well and his speech was a little off. I could tell his head was still be bit foggy, but he had to be a trooper! Oh! and they both have sleep apnea. Why can't my parents just behave?! I love them to pieces but they sure know how to worry their daughters!

Last but certainly not least, My niece Camille who is very close to Nicole is trying to raise money to send her and baby Karlee to help them get on their feet after losing Western. She was talking to me about how great my blog readers are and asked if I could spread the word to all of you. Of course I said yes! She is dedicating September 15th-October 15th to them and plans to run 100 miles. I commend Camille for doing this because I can't even run across the street let alone 100 miles. She is amazing! She would love it if any of you could help by pledging a dime, a quarter, or whatever you want per mile. It's not really the amount that counts because a lot of littles can add up to be a lot. If you don't want to pledge per mile but still would like to donate something, any help would be appreciated. I now things are tight for everyone right now so if you can't help at this time that's okay too. If any of you are interested please click on her blog here and show her some love and support. It would mean the world to their family. Thanks in advance! You guys are awesome and I love you! Hopefully I will be able to return to normalcy soon and catch up with everyone. Hugs and love!

Billy and Courtney's wedding...

Saturday was painting day. My house is in total disarray. Everything is off the walls and pulled to middle of the rooms. Everywhere I look I see "kapoosh!" (my definition of total disaster, said by cheeks puffed and fingers making exploding motions)

After painting Mark and I got cleaned up and headed to town for the wedding of Billy and Courtney. Billy is Chad's best friend and he served in Afghanistan with him, just on the opposite side of the country. The wedding was beautiful. Chad was the best man and looked very handsome. He is with Stacey, his un-official girlfriend. They have to take things very slow because she is younger, but her parents love him to pieces and we equally love her.

I can't get a good picture of me and Mark without getting one like this. I need to make a layout of all the times I get the retarded face pictures. Only problem is I have too many of them.

*Weight loss update*
I'm down 17 pounds now...maybe 18, plus several inches. I've been working really hard. The more I see come off the harder I work. It's exciting to see changes. Mark can see the changes too. Still have a long way to go, but for the first time I actually think I can reach my goal.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers for Western and the family. It is deeply appreciated.

Western...

I'm sad to report that Western passed away this morning after a long 15 hour surgery. Between massive infection, loss of blood and the extent of his injuries, it was just too much for his body to handle. Nicole's ward in Houston is currently packing up her house and loading it all on a truck and sending it on to Missouri. Her and the baby will be staying at her parents house. (Mark's oldest brother and his wife) Please continue to pray for them. Nicole will need strength to get through this difficult time.

Prayers Please...

My niece Nicole's husband, Western was in a roll over car accident Sunday night and a 3-4 inch diameter tree limb went all the way through his body. He was in surgery for many hours. They had to remove a kidney and most of his liver as well as try to repair the damage to his chest cavity. It's the worst the doctors have ever seen. They said he probably wouldn't still be alive if they hadn't called in a liver specialist. They will keep him open for the next 2-3 weeks as he will need several more surgeries. It's very very bad! Western has served 3 tours in Iraq, but is home now and he is the father to a beautiful baby girl who needs her daddy. Please keep him and Nicole in your prayers.

***Edited to update***

The doctors have been working on Western all day trying to clean all the tree debris out of his body such as bark, dirt, bugs a pine needles. I've been told that they removed 409 needles so far. Their biggest fear is him dying from infection caused by all the foreign things in his body. He is in a coma and they will probably keep him in that state for a least a month. Prayers are definitely needed and appreciated.