Whitney has grown up so much this year! I can't believe she's 4, it makes me feel so old. She can read all by herself now and really loves to learn. She's into the usual girl things...Barbies, Disney Princesses, stickers, etc. The thing that impresses me the most about her is her love for the Savior. She makes Daddy tell her a "Jesus story" every night before bed and sometimes when she's playing with her Barbies, I'll hear her exclaim "You healed me, oh, thank you!!!". She's my best little friend, my big helper, and it's so much fun to have her for a daughter!

Aaron is just about 18 months. ( a few more Sundays and he'll be in nursery, yaaaaaaay!) He's a total boy. I swear they are born knowing what cars and airplanes and crashes sound like. He loves trucks and cars and Disney's Cars movie. Aaron is definitely strong willed and sure gives us a run for his money. I'm amazed at how different boys are from girls! They sure are fun in their own different (more destructible) way. He loves his Daddy and is starting to learn how to keep up with Whitney. I'm sure he'll have fun growing up in Texas with all the bugs and little frogs and all those things boys like to mess with! I sure love that little tank!

So much has happened since my last entry! First off, I was called to be the second counselor in the Young Womens. At first I was really excited for the calling, and then that night all my teenage years came flooding back to me, and in tears I realized that this is total payback. The old saying "What goes around comes around" has finally come and nipped me in the rear end! hahahaha. But then, after a nice little chat with the bishop I felt much better and realize that I will be able to help these girls through things that their other leaders (with perfectly clean records) would never be able to relate to. And when I was being set apart I knew without a doubt that this is where Heavenly Father wanted me to be and such a peace came over me, it was a wonderful experience! So, once again, I am SO excited to get to work with the youth. I'll be working with the Beehives (thank goodness!). They are so sweet and innocent and haven't been "corrupted" yet. And they are actually HAPPY to be there, not wishing they were at home chatting with their friends online, or hanging out with their boyfriend..s....

We went home for Christmas and it was so much fun! I'd have to say the highlight was when Rachel walked into the room with her prego belly and boobs and I got to feel her belly and give her a big hug. I seriously started crying! That's my little baby niece in there!!! Oh, I can't wait to hold that sweet little girl. Rachel is the cutest pregnant person I've ever seen, she looks absolutely beautiful! (she begs to differ...but that's because she has pregnant person goggles on.)

It was wonderful to get to see the whole family. I can't believe how fast everyone grows up! Brett is a total teenager now, and I think Ethan has even grown since I saw him last. (I thought he might have plateaued at age 6). They have a new exchange student from Germany, his name is Kya and he is such a neat kid. He would have been so much fun to grow up with. He even got the kids Christmas presents! There was lots of snow and lots of cold and it really felt like Christmas. Man, I LOVE my family!!!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!!!

Rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged:
Link to your tagger and post these rules.
Share 7 facts about yourself.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names - link to them
Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

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1. I am terrified of Bigfoot and am too scared to go camping because of it!

2. My favorite food is Honey Seared Chicken from Pei Wei.

3. I used to want to be a tornado chaser when I grew up. (now that I live in Texas where we have dozens of tornado warnings in our county every summer and spring, I think they are the scariest things on earth. Especially at night when you can't see where they're coming from!)

4. I HATE putting away laundry and putting away dishes. I'm fine with loading them....but as for unloading- I'd rather change a poopy diaper!

5. I have broken two wedding rings, but the third one has lasted over a year! (in my defense, they were total random accidents and I didn't do it on purpose. Hope it's not a bad omen...)

6. Some day I'd like to go back to school and finish my nursing degree and work in Labor and Delivery at a hospital!!!

7. I'm terrified of city driving!!! (I've lived here for a year and still haven't driven on the freeway! Then again, Texas drivers are worthy of being terrified of! These people are maniacs!)

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 people.....I don't have 7 people to tag.....oh well! :)

We went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago to pick out our pumpkin for Halloween. Whitney thought she was in some sort of magical pumpkin land and Aaron was just having a grand old time climbing all over the pumpkin pile. Just look at that face! "Is this for real? You mean, I get to climb all over those and you won't get mad!?!" Life is so much more exciting when you get to live through their eyes.

Wow, has it already been a week!?! Sorry! The surgery went well. The nurses couldn't get my I.V. right for some reason. It took three tries to find a vein! The first time the lady completely missed my vein and sent the needle straight through my flesh. Now the whole top of my hand is a nasty bluish greenish purplish color. The second one lasted through my surgery, but turns out it wasn't flowing so I came out of surgery very dehydrated and went into some kind of shock. They gave me a shot of something to make me stop shaking and it calmed me right down, whatever it was. So, they put in a new I.V. and put three liters into me! Anyway, they didn't find any active endometriosis, but there was some scar tissue that did some damage. They were able to remove it and hopefully that fixes the pain. As for the lump that started this whole mess, they tried to have a look at it while they were in there and it's on the outside of the abdominal wall, so that will take another surgery later on.
Recovery wasn't too bad. I have 2 incisions, one right below my navel and the other one is lower at the bikini line. (whoever named it the bikini line anyway?). I have some stitches...and a little bruising from where the instruments were prodding around, but really it's not too bad at all. I spent the first few days sleeping because of the pain killers and by day 4 I was pretty much back to normal. Michael took such good care of me, he really stepped up to the plate and I know I couldn't have made it without tearing something back open without him! (awwwww, tender).
I'm just soooooo glad that I opted for the laparoscopy first instead of the hormone therapy which would have been 6 months of living heck for nothing!!! I attribute that to prayer because I knew what I needed to do the second after I said "amen". Thank heaven for prayer. :)

Well, guess the fun isn't quite over yet. I'm going to have exploratory surgery on Monday to get this pain figured out once and for all! It's becoming more frequent and more painful and I went to another doctor for a second opinion and she thought the best thing to do was to go in and check it out. Thankfully they can do it laparoscopically, so I won't have a big gash across my abdomen or anything, and full recovery is only 2 weeks! I'm really praying that they'll be able to figure it out and that it won't be anything too bad.

I went in to have my pre-surgery labs done and had a missionary experience there. There was one lady drawing my blood and one lady putting my information into the computer. She asked me if I had a religious preference and I said that I was LDS, and she was like " A Mormon???". So then both the ladies were suddenly sitting down in their chairs asking me questions about what we believe and what makes us different from all the other religions. And the usual Polygamy thing (which they were very happy that I cleared up for them!) So, I pretty much gave the first discussion while they were taking my blood....it was a good distraction from that needle, though! I hope I was able to tell them what they needed to know and maybe even planted the seed. Anyway, it was a nice experience.