..hOLiDaYs..

Well it has been almost a month and I felt like a update was in order. I haven't really written because there hasn't been too much going on. But I guess I will take the time to tell you what has happened in our life.

October ended with a bang, I love Halloween it has to be my favorite holiday around. I got all into it this year and decided that I had to deck out the house. It took 3 days but it was a stellar success. I had a graveyard, with 24 graves, two drunken skeletons playing cards, a ghoul who jumped up from a rock, a mummy in a coffin and a giant spider. I loved it. I spent the night handing out candy to the neighbor kids and making some of my now favorite brownies.

November started off, with nothing new. I still haven't found a job and still not sure why not. I have been really dedicated to doing my school work so I have something positive to focus on. I feel like I am making leaps and bounds in my art work which is good for me, I felt like I wasn't cut out to do art. Cody has been working every weekend - Friday through Monday- at the airport. So the days he is home I am in school. But it works out okay. He is being such a wonderful supporter of this whole ordeal that I have been trying hard to learn how to deal with. What a wonderful husband do I have.

We celebrated our 3rd year anniversary. I have loved everyday of the past three years. It has certainly been the best. I tease him frequently that I can't believe I have been stuck with him that long but I sure have loved it. It was also Cody's 25th birthday that day. I just laughed and told him he was old. He has now reached a quarter of a century and I am still young. He celebrated it by working. I felt bad but he got off early and got great presents. Happy Birthday Cody, Love You!



A mere 4 days later we celebrated my Dad's 50th birthday. Talk about old. We spent the day finding ways to remind him how old he was. It started with a coffin on the kitchen table first thing in the morning. We all dressed in black, and got him presents for old people. Including brochures for power chairs and hearing aids. It was a great day and he took it with such grace. Happy Birthday Dad!



The next day was thanksgiving. We spent the night before cooking up some stuff and the next day setting the table and doing the rest of prepartations. We had the pleasure of being joined by my grandparents from Brigham City and also our neighbors from Australia, the Bears. It was so fun to share the holiday with them. I loved it.

So November hasn't been too bad for us. We are getting into finals weeks, yuck.. but only three more weeks and it will all be over.

..HAPPY HOLIDAYS..

sUnNy sAn fRaNciScO..

Well, I can certainly say I am glad my husband got a job at Skywest. After 14 days of working there his benefits kicked in. We decided since it was fall break for me at school and he was working 4 ten hour shifts and got the weekend off, we would leave and go to San Francisco.

So last weekend we flew to San Francisco. It was a blast and an adventure that was worth a million words. So I thought I would share some of this and of course pictures with all of you.

Last thursday night I met Cody at the airport with plans of boarding a direct flight to San Francisco. Well, while you are flying as an employee you are strictly standby. So if the plane is full you aren't getting on. So we waited at the gate and watched as the passengers loaded. We didn't make the cut. So we decided to find a person to help us find one that could get us there. We found this sweet lady named Malia. She spent a good hour with us searching all the flights that went to San Francisco that night or the next morning. We found one that went to Fresno and had connection to San Francisco the next morning. We decided to take it. We got on the plane and sat in front of a few employees including a pilot. Cody chatted with them the whole time. After a bit we found out that they could help us. One told us to just rent a car and drive to San Francisco seeing how it was only 2 1/2 hours away. So we decided after arriving and checking out hotel rates that our best bet was to drive. So we rented a car. We got a sweet Chevy Colbalt coupe. It was white and had leather and a sunroof. And the best part...it had texas license plates.


Cody with the rental car, at 11pm..


The sweet texas license plates..

We drove for a few hours, crossed alot of terrain, chatted about everything and crossed the bay bridge into San Francisco. Now we didn't have a map but we had Cody's iphone. It has google maps with GPS and could pin point our location. At this point it was 2 in the morning. We exited the freeway and started following the directions to our hotel. Well I entered the address wrong and we ended up in a worse than compton area with bums galore surrounding the car. I couldn't help but to just laugh. We were both so tired. So we ended up calling the hotel for directions. After arriving, parking the car and checking in it was 2:58am (California Time). It was the longest day. We both crashed.

The next day we spent the whole day just playing in San Francisco. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, walked on a nice beach, went to fisherman's wharf, did some shopping, hit up the sourdough bread company and my favorite.. Ghiradelli Chocolate. It was a blast. We had so much fun. We rode the cable cars and learned the BART trains there and got around to everywhere we wanted to go. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which was on the 8th floor in Macy's department store. After dinner, we decided to just walk the 8 blocks to our hotel. On the way we ran into about a billion bums asking for our food ( we had a piece of cheesecake ). It was a bit scary but Cody held onto me tight and put me on the otherside of the street, he was sweetheart.


Cody and Me at Baker Beach..


Cody at his favorite store at Fisherman's Wharf, the Lefties store..


Cody with a bum we saw at Fisherman's Wharf..



Cody wrestling with the giant bread alligator, watch out babe!..


Chocolate, yum!


The beautiful sunset at the wharf..



The next morning we got up and walked to the BART and went to the airport. We got on the first flight out of San Francisco and were back in Salt Lake City by 1pm. It was a short but great trip. I loved it and I am looking forward to many more trips.


.. Oh don't worry, tyke was glad we were home can you tell?

tHe nEvErEnDiNg sToRy..

Well like the title says.. it is neverending. So here is another step in my saga.

I didn't think that my times could get much worse. I thought that finding out I had a life altering injury would be enough for the moment. But it seems that when trials come, they come in numbers. I am not sure why but I do think that I am supposed to be learning something from all this.

Last monday I had an "urgent" meeting at work. I cut the last ten minutes of my class and rushed to work with great haste. As I arrived at my bosses office, he told me we would be meeting with the CEO that day. I got a tad nervous, either something good or something bad was coming down the drain. So... We went. I sat for about five minutes when I realized that it was a turn for the bad. After about 20 minutes of them giving me every excuse that they could, It sunk in.. I had been laid off. Yep, I lost my job. I am currently unemployed and will be insurance-less starting November first.

I didn't think it could get much worse, but it did. The next day, all red eyed and tired from a sleepless night I went and endured an hour long EMG. It was an hour of being shocked and tasered to test out my nerve responses. It was painful and very exhausting. At the end of the hour, I was so sore and still had a class. I limped to school and sat through another hour of classes and went home. The next day I returned to hear my results. Turns out that I have nerve damage on both sides of my body in the lower limbs. I lose feeling from time to time in my legs. I was told that I needed to attend "Back School" which I start Wednesday, to help me learn how to get myself aligned. I was also told I can have children, but will have to wear a pregnancy brace and will have to have a c-section with every child. It is a struggle and overwhelming. I hope this Back School will help me be in a better condition and place.

So with all this bad news, I started looking for jobs and have been spending time with tyke and thinking about life. I hope one day I will figure it out. I started taking walks with Tyke and Cody on a trail behind out house. I have found a great photographic release there, I am hoping it will release some feelings. So... took me long enough, here are some photos!


.. Tyke and his new favorite place, cuddling in his Cave of Covers..


.. Tyke and Cody on the trail..


.. Tyke and Me on the trail..


.. Tyke being "Mountain Puppy"..


.. Tyke in the bushes..

Well.. until next time..

dEnAiL iSn'T jUsT a rIvEr iN eGyPt..

Alright, So as promised, I decided to blog since I had seen my other doctor on Tuesday. I went to a physiologist. I was kind of nervous, I had called this doctor for pain management. The plan was to get a nerve block put in place to help me make it until December when I see the neurologist. I wasn't sure what I was in store for.

I arrived and sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes. I was so frustrated but I couldn't leave because I needed to have my pain assessed. So I sat with Cody there. When I made it into the room, the appointment itself took 30 minutes. It was so long but very educational. After being twisted, poked, contorted, and prodded I learned alot about my body. I discovered that my spine has more issues than just the two herniated disks. Most normal people have a natural "C" curve in the upper portion of the spine and their tailbone points downward off the spine. My spine however, instead of curving naturally on the top doesn't it goes straight also my tail bone doesn't point downward it is parallel to the floor. Also I learned I have weak ankles and my right calf is larger than my left. I am not sure what all this means, but I will learn more. I am having a special nerve test called an EMG in two weeks to test my nerve functions in my legs. This should tell me more about how my body is working with this issue.

The doctors appointment wasn't all too bad.. He gave me new medications that help deal with the pain better than my asprin did. Also he told me what kind of exercies I can do without hurting myself. I hadn't been to the gym in 3 weeks and I am starting to feel slow and not healthy. So he was able to help me learn some.

Things are looking good for me, I am hoping that surgery is the last option and that I can solve this problem or learn to manage it before surgery is necessary.

I am almost positive I just entered another cycle of denial (it isn't just a river in Egypt) trying to work through this is going to be interesting..

Well that is all I have to report for now...

a DaY iN tHe liFe oF..

Alright, So this weekend I was told that I needed to blog more. So I figured since I had a few minutes of downtime at work I would spend a few and update all of you. I am sorry, it is missing pictures I have been horrid about taking them lately. But I will try and take some soon and post.

September started off to a good start. I started school and Cody started online courses. I enrolled in 15 credits of art classes and Cody in 20 credits of airline things. So we are both trying to keep up. Every weekend is filled with homework for Cody, and me building some project. Needless to say we have been filled with thoughts of airplanes and art.

Cody, started the month off studying hard for his private pilot's license. He had his test last Monday, September 15th. He worked hard and flew 3 days in a row the few days before and we are glad to say passed his test with flying colors on the first try, which is apparently very rare to do. So CONGRATS!! In honor of his graduation, I planned a surprise party this weekend with family and friends at PF Changs. I do have to give myself props, I have NEVER been able to pull off a surprise without Cody figuring it out before I can do it, this time... he had no idea! It was great... So CONGRATS my sweetie, I am SO proud of you!!

Also... while in Cody news... Cody applied for a job at Skywest in Salt Lake at the airport. He thought it would be a good idea to get his foot in the door working for an airline and that way when he was able to be a commercial pilot he would already be working for an airline. So he went to the interviews, and a week later we found out he got the job. He will be a ramp agent, one of the people that has to load luggage on planes. He starts September 22nd. I am just excited, cause I get to fly for FREE!!

Recently I had been struggling with pains in my tail bone area. I would often find myself saying my tail bone hurt and I couldn't sit for long periods of time without having bad pains. So I decided that I would make an appointment with my doctor. He told me that I needed and MRI to see what was happening in my back. Back problems run in my family, My mom has 2 now fused discs (she had 2 herniated discs but had them removed and her bones fused together) my younger brother had a ruptured disc and my grandpa and a few uncles have bad back problems. So I was afraid of what it could mean. So I went and had an MRI. It was cold, and very noisy.. but 20 minutes later I was done.

The radiology tech took the time to show me my scans and explain the different parts to me. He told me it looked like I had 2 bulging discs but that my doctor would call me in a few days and talk to me. Sure enough the next morning my doctor called me. He told me that my L4-L5 disc and L5-S1 disc were both bulging, in the centers. Now, this was strange so for you that don't know what this means... let me interpret (don't worry they had to do this for me too). The L stands for lumbar, which is the lower vertebrae in your back. The S stands for sacral, which is a fancy name for the tail bone. So my cartilige discs in that area are popping out into my spinal cord cavity pushing against my spinal cord which causes pain and numbness in my legs and hips.Yes I know it sounds like great fun.

For the next few days I went through what I told Cody was my "denial process". It started with a day of " I am dreaming... this is just a dream, I will wake up and it will be gone.." to " Why me... I am 24 I am healthy, not overweight and I take good care of myself..." ( this portion involved many tears, and a few laughs..) and then finally to the "This is a part of my life now, and will be forever. It isn't going to be a disability, and I am just going to learn how to live with it." So I am now on asprin therapy which works pretty good, I can't lift more than 40 pounds at a time and I am learning my limits. I am taking it slow, and my next step is to get back into doing things that are physical. I am going to try yoga. I am going to a doctor tomorrow to have a nerve block put in place so I can't feel the pain for a few months until I see a neurosurgeon in December.

Needless to say our life is anything but boring right now... what can you do? So that is what is new... and I promise I will do this more often and with pictures!!

aUgUsT cAmE aNd wEnT..

I felt like an update was well in need. Alot has been going on with our little family and blogging became the last thing on my mind. Things have been insane.

August was great. We had a lot happen. Cody has been working hard at untouchables and working on his flying. He is taking his checkride on September 15th. If he passes he will have his private pilot's license. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. As we were both caught up in work, we decided to have Tyke fixed. So in late August, Tyke under went his little surgery. The next few days were full of groggy sleepy puppy, monitored sleeping and bathroom breaks. But after a week of restricted things he was up to going back to normal. He is doing great, and healed wonderfully. We started up school on the 27th. We both are taking full loads. Cody is doing 20 credits online, so brave! The next day I turned 24. As my brother told me I am "old" now. We had a great august.

September started out great with Labor day. It was nice to spend time with each other and our families. We spent Sunday with Cody's parents and their friends and family playing top toss. We had a competition. We were pulled in pairs. I played with my brother-in-laws friend Gavin. Cody played with his parents gay neighbor, Curtis. It was fun, me and Gavin made it almost to the championship round but lost the round before. It was pretty fun.

Well that is the news.. until next time..

mEmoRiEs

I saw this on one of my friends blog and thought it could be fun..

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... get set... blog those memories!