Summer update and such.......

I've been so busy keeping up on my weight loss blog, that this one has gone neglected.
Summer has been crazy busy with having all three boys home, all day long, every day!
Now, we're down to 19 days till school starts again. I love my boys, but I must say that I'm really looking forward to school starting!!! lol It's not getting rid of them, but to have structure and routine back in our lives. They always do best under those circumstances. I just hope and pray it's a good school year. Last year was crazy and my nerves were shot by the end of the school year!
They've been out almost 2 months now, so it's definitely time! :)

Not too much else has changed. We've been back and forth to Nashville a few times. Including one 11 day stint! Erik's parents put Alex in some beginner tennis lessons and Aidan and Connor went to an all day camp at a gymnasium and had a blast. :) When they weren't at those, they were in the pool. I got a nice little sort of vacation out of it too. :)

The last blog I wrote was about Grampy's toe/foot. That drama is still going on. He's had a partial amputation and things are still not great. I guess he's got an appointment this coming Monday and they will determine then if they will send him up to some specialists in SLC who have equipment & technique not available in St. George that might save the rest of his foot. Mandy just told me this and I am questioning WHY they didn't do this 2 months ago??? UGH!!!! When Mom got cancer they didn't say, "Oh we can fix you here!" No, they sent her up to the Hunstman Cancer Center where she could be treated by the best. I just worry that the doctors there gambled with it all a little too long and it may be too little too late. *sigh* But, he's doing okay considering and his spirits are pretty good.

Speaking of Mom......It's rapidly approaching 2 years since we lost her. On one hand, I can't believe it's been that long. On the other, it feels like forever. I still think about her all the time and miss her so much every day. So much has happened in the past 2 years that I wish I could share with her. Connor, my baby, is about to enter kindergarten. I'm so sad that he doesn't get to call Grandma and tell her all about going to school like Alex and Aidan did. Though we lived so many miles apart, she was always a huge presence in their lives.
I hope that she's around and can see them growing and changing and see the crazy things they say and do. Does she know Connor is obsessed with doing cartwheels, especially one handed cartwheels....and that he's REALLY good at it?? He was cartwheeling the other day while holding a nectarine in one hand. :) Does she see our happiness and our struggles and everything that I so wish that I could talk to her about? I hope so. Great, I've gone and made myself cry. I just miss her so so much. I hope that she can see the amazing job Erik and I are doing losing weight. I know that she was very concerned with our weight issues and when she was battling her health issues....first diabetes and then cancer, she begged me to do something so that I could prevent it from happening to me. I hope she knows that I've lost 55 pounds and Erik 76 and is smiling down on us. :)
Wow, I really didn't mean to turn into such a Debbie Downer in this blog! But, sometimes that's just life. I'll try to do better at keeping this blog up to date!

Life just really sucks sometimes.......

Grandpa was dx'd with Type 2 Diabetes years and years ago. He has never taken it seriously or taken care of himself. Over the years, it has caused several different issues with his heath.....but now, it's the worst ever. He apparently injured his toe not too long ago. Didn't know or didn't realize how bad it actually was. So, a couple of weeks ago, he had part of his big toe amputated. :( It's not healing well. Mandy sent me a picture of it and it's really really bad. :( He had an appointment with a vascular surgeon yesterday and there is basically no blood flow to his foot and his foot is pretty much dead and rotting. *BAWL* My poor Grampy. He is likely going to end up with his foot amputated. :( Yes, this is partially his fault for not taking care of himself properly.....BUT....he has been trying to care for both him and Grandma since her stroke almost 14 years ago and he put himself at the bottom of the totem pole most of the time to care for her. WHY can't he catch a flipping break?????? It is so freaking unfair. I am so sad and scared for him. All I can do is pray. I can't help but wonder if things wouldn't have gotten to this point for him if Mom was still alive. She is their one child who was *always* there for them and helping care for them. Even when she was dog sick, in the midst of chemo and radiation and everything else, she *still* was there for them. She is probably so sad at what's happening to him and I hope that she is somehow able to be a comfort to him from the other side. Things like this make her being gone so much harder. :( I also feel totally useless. I have all the time in the world that I could care for them and am so willing to do so.....but I'm 2000 miles away. It kills me. Oh please Heavenly Father, watch over Grampy and help him get well and heal properly.

Weight Loss Blog

I started a new blog specifically for Erik and I and our weight loss journey. :) I can blog about it here too, but if I ever decide to share it publicly.....meaning apart from family and friends.....then I don't want all the extra personal stuff about the kids,etc. written in with everything diet that I don't care if I share with strangers. Here's the link!!! http://erikandjodishrinking.blogspot.com/

The Last Supper.......

Mine, that is. Medifast will be delivered some time today and my weight loss journey begins tomorrow. So, now, I'm trying to decide what I want to eat tonight that will be a no no tomorrow. lol Pitiful, isn't it? I don't think I'll have any major sweet cravings. That should be covered with the Medifast foods....which have puddings, brownies, shakes, etc. My biggest cravings will be for rice and potatoes....maybe even a little bit for pasta. I'd like to maybe go to Wasabi, I think. Their rice is the best part of the meal! :) So, I guess I need to get the scale out and dust it off to chart my progress (and Erik's). Also take some "before" pics of us as well. I am really excited to get this thing started!!! :)

AMAZING NIGHT!!!!

Erik and I went to see Celtic Woman last night. It was absolutely AMAZING!!!
Erik got home from work and quickly changed his clothes and the babysitter arrived right on time. We drove to Knoxville and figured out where we were going and got to the Coliseum to discover a huge line. Seeing that, we decided that we needed to park and go to will call to get our tickets right away. So, we're walking up to the line and are starting to think that we are in the wrong place. Tons of college age kids.....dressed like, um....not nice.....and crazy hair and piercings, etc. and we're like are these people really here to see Celtic Woman???? So, we get up to the will call office and discover that there are actually two events going on at the civic center and that yes, we were on the wrong side of the building. lol The kids we were seeing were in line for the Three Days Grace concert. lol That made MUCH more sense. So, we got our tickets......but were then kind of stuck there due to paid parking. We hadn't had dinner. Crap. So, we asked if they had concessions there and they said yes, so we were like okay a hot dog is better than nothing. WRONG. Their concessions were extremely limited. So, we had a dinner of coke, sun chips, goobers and cracker jacks. BLECH!!! Ruth's Chris just down the street was calling my name and this is what I got! lol Oh well! The rest of the evening was just amazing. The music was incredible and they've got such great energy. Especially the "fiddler" Mairead. She is awesome! :) Fiddling while dancing and jumping around....I could only wish for that kind of coordination! lol A couple of songs made me think of Mom and got the tears flowing. I was really glad we'd moved to an empty row of seats (across the aisle from our ticketed seats) so that I wasn't sitting next to a total stranger in those moments. ;) Mom would have loved it, for sure! :) It was a great night....so glad we got to go! :)

This is the song that sent me over the edge....You'll need to stop/pause my playlist music to hear it! :)

Sunday, a day of rest? Not so much......

In my opinion. It seems like Sundays are as crazy and hectic a day sometimes as any other day. We wake up in the morning and it's a mad rush to get everyone up, fed and ready for Church. Sometimes, there are meetings before Church leaving one parent behind to take care of it all at home. Sometimes, we don't arrive in such happy hearted, spiritual feeling moods. ;) Then we spend three hours at Church. Sometimes we have meetings AFTER Church. Today, we were bombarded with a surprise Scout meeting......right when I was worn out from 2 hours of Sunbeams and ready to go home and REST. We had a nice, leisurely afternoon. Took a nice drive a few miles up the road to Frozen Head State Park. Enjoyed nature and the sunshine. Then, had to head back because Erik had to meet with the rest of the EQ Presidency to go visit a new family in the ward. He left over 2 hours ago. It's almost 9pm. I really hope they've not intruded on this family for 2 hours. I don't know if they had additional business to discuss. But, come on....this is ridiculous. There shouldn't be soooooo many meetings on Sundays and there definitely shouldn't be anything keeping the guys away from their families this late in the evening. I've now had family prayer and put the kids to bed without their Daddy. UGH. I know these things need to be done and I guess the thinking is people have so many other things going on during the week, which is true. But, sometimes, even doing Church business seems to go against the Sabbath being a day of rest.

Feelin' like a brat

Ever have those days when you just want to give in to that inner two year old self and stomp your feet and scream? That's me today. lol I'm really tired this morning for some reason and I'm sure that's lending to my crankiness. Got a wild hair this morning and decided we should go somewhere fun and different this weekend and have fun.....Atlanta was the plan. Thinking we could hit up the aquarium or some other ATL attraction and of course, my beloved......IKEA. Aidan doesn't have a soccer game this weekend and it's the only weekend (though we missed it last weekend) from the beginning of March through the end of May, that he doesn't have a game. So, I'm thinking it would be perfect. I call Erik and he is totally on board....even suggesting we drive down tonight and get a hotel room. THEN.......he remembers that Alex has a merit badge thingamajigger for Boy Scouts this weekend. ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ONE weekend Aidan doesn't have a game and nothing else is going on THIS has to be going on. Really, it is optional. But, it is also Alex's first opportunity to do something with the Boy Scouts. It's very very frustrating having something for one person going on completely stops the rest of the family from doing something. So, I guess we'll hang around the house and maybe make it in to Turkey Creek or something. *sigh* Since Erik doesn't have any vacation time any time soon, the weekends are ALL we have to do fun stuff as a family and there always seems to be something holding that up too. We've been to Nashville several times.....but I'm really wanting to do something different for a change.