Life is Going Good!!!

Michael's Ticket Count

Michael showing off his prizes

Strike a pose

Let me see your tongue

Cooper thinks he's a kid just like Michael and that the bounce house is his too

Well last week was rough. I was let go from Saint Al's for a ridiculous reason and let's just say that there is a certain someone there that I will not miss (I don't like drama, eavesdroppers, or micromanagers who put people down constantly- it's not professional or nice). I will miss Sharron and Charlene, but plan on keeping in touch. I spent one week unemployed, filled out about 100 applications, and went to about 6 interviews. I was fortunate enough to stumble across a job ad for a place called RehabAuthority and even more fortunate to get hired for a Monday-Friday day job (no holidays) and for better pay than what I was making. From a 1 day ad, they had over 300 applicants and I went through 3 interviews before getting the job. It's a job that is simply to build relationships with doctors so I get paid to make friends (and I think I'm pretty good at that). I have my own office with my own company laptop and company cell phone and I'll be there about 5% of the time and the other 95% of the time I get to meet new people. The company is absolutely amazing and all the people are wonderful. They believe in having fun at work and being passionate and excited about what you do so they hire people that fit into that category (fun especially). I've been on the job for 2 full days, but feel like I have already been accepted into the family unit they have created. Other amazing perks: I get a clothing allowance and if you meet the company goal each year (which they have for the last 3 years in a row), they send the employees and their spouses on a vacation to Mexico! Is this not just a dream company and job? I am so excited!

Beyond the new job, I got to spend some quality time with Michael over the last week. We cleaned and set up Michael's bounce house so we spent a lot of time playing outside and me and my friend Sarah took Michael to Pojos which is a fun Chuck E Cheese sort of place, but for all ages (not just little kids). We literally took $5 in and let Michael choose his own games and play them by himself and he won 393 tickets (on $5 and he isn't even 2!). He loved the games that involve any kind of ball so there was one game where you push a button and a bouncy ball shoots through a tube and bounces around until it falls into a hole that is labeled with a specific number of tickets. Twice in a row he won big! He got 25 once and then 75 immediately after! It was hilarious watching a toddler play a game and win huge. The other game he did well on was a bingo type game where you roll a ball under a glass top and it eventually bounces into a hole labeled with a number that lights up a spot on the electronic bingo card. He got a couple rows lit up a couple times. When we finally went and chose out his prizes, he got a football and two bouncy balls and held them all in his arms and giggled and squealed as we piled them into his arms. He was SO excited! It was a lot of fun.

Mike is doing well too. He will be starting physical therapy this week and we're hoping to get him back up and going well here soon. Life is good. :) We hit a financial snag due to loss of income for a week, but once we recover, we're going to be in a much better state than we were before and much happier. We are so blessed and lucky and truly grateful for everyone who has helped us through everything we have gone through in the last couple of months.

Sick Baby....

It was a long weekend at our house this week. On Friday morning I dropped Michael off at daycare at 6:45 and got a call at 9 at work that he was very sick. He had a fever that was slowly rising and white ear drainage. He has had a cold for the last couple of weeks and as soon as I picked him up, we went to his pediatrician's and found out that the cold has spread to his ears causing an ear infection in both ears and a ruptured ear drum in his right ear. He was put on antibiotics, but the poor little man was miserable all weekend. All he wanted was to be held (no easy task at his age) and if I even moved more than an arm's length away or set him down (even if it was right next to me), he would scream. He seemed to be getting better last night so hopefully we're on the downhill slope from here. You know it's bad though when you pick your son up from daycare and he looks like this. And he looked like this most of the weekend. :( On a happier note, we were able to get his new room half done (just have final touches on the scoreboard and lines on the field and stadium lights left) and he got a brand new bed set in all BSU colors (orange pillow with a blue and orange blanket).

Life Updated...

Things are going well for us. We've pretty much settled into our new house and Mike is doing amazing in healing after his broken femur. We haven't been up to too much, but life is good. Michael is such a little character. When he's happy or flirting, he will give you a big cheesey smile. He has settled back into a bed time routine again too (thank goodness!). We had an embarrassing parenting moment a couple of weeks ago at a Dairy Queen. We were finishing up our dinner and Michael wanted to run around the dining room. It was dead so we let him play in the aisle while we finishd our food when all of a sudden he made a mad dash toward the counter. I jumped up immediately to chase him, but I wasn't fast enough. The silly little guy made it behind their counter, past their grill area, and clear back into their stockroom before I caught him. It was a little mortifying and needless to say, dinner was over immediately. Lol. Grandma and Grandpa have been coaching Michael's fine football skills on the days they watch him and they are working on "BSU", but so far he's got the "B" and "U". Another funny little thing about Michael is that he LOVES to dance. Anytime music comes on, he starts jamming. He knows the fist pump and he does this little move where he squats real low to the ground and bounces side to side. I was at the gas station last week before dropping him off at daycare and I pulled him out of the car to go inside to pay and they were playing music over the loud speaker at the pumps and he started full out dancing and fist pumping both fists. Lol. He's a doll. :) This weekend, we are going to start painting his room. Since he's a BSU football fan, he's getting a room decked out for the little MVP that he is. He'll have the field, goal post, score board, stadium lights, and locker room. Once it's all painted, we're going to put glow in the dark stars up in the "sky" so at night he's got quite the view. He sure is spoiled. :)

This is what you will see when you walk into Michael's room

This is the left side of his room where is crib is. (Between the locker room and goal post)

This is the wall you walk in beside going into his room, it's his closet. There will be a couple of pictures of Michael in his BSU football outfits with MVP and Player of the Year labeled around them too.

Michael and Trish's idea of shopping at Cabela's (the only good thing about that store is all the displys and the big fish tanks). Lol.

Michael trying on some cool new shades.

Shopping Baby Style!

Steph, Mike's sister, came into town today so we all went and spent a day shopping. Lucky for Michael and Karmen, we wound up at Babies R Us where they have this fun little ride. So they rode it 3 times and took turns driving it. :)

Discharge Day... Hopefully

Michael and Karmen Hugging :)

Michael on Daddy's DirtBike Sunday Morning

Today, we are hoping that Mike will be discharged from the hospital. He has been taken off the morphine and IV's and is doing amazing. I am so proud of how great he is doing in his progress! We have been given so much help and so much support from everyone and we appreciate everything that everyone is doing. We've even gotten calls in the morning asking if we need food or anything brought to us. Everyone has been so amazing and we are so grateful for all the help. It will be nice to be back home and enjoy our own beds and home.

This is how Michael spent his time in the ER and boy did he love it! It may be hard to hear, but as soon as we walked into the emergency room, Michael saw the Super Bowl on the TV and started yelling "Football" at it. He ran closer and as he watched the Super Bowl, he was glued and kept yelling "football" and "go, go, go" at the TV. It was hilarious!

Sad Event...

So on Superbowl Sunday, we spent the night at the ER at Saint Alphonsus. Mike went dirtbiking with a couple of his buddies and got thrown from his bike which then in turn landed on him. He broke his femur and had surgery at 11pm Sunday night. He had an 11mm rod placed through his femur from the hip to the knee and has 4 screws holding it all in place. He's in pain, but doing great and we've had some amazing support and help from everyone. He'll be in the hospital a few days, but has already started physical therapy and I know he will do well. He will be on crutches for about 6-8 weeks and it will take up to 9 months for a full recovery, but he's free of a cast and is doing what he can to speed his healing as fast as possible. We've had a lot of help from friends. Billy and Bryson were amazing in helping get Mike taken care of and to the hospital and being there with us through this and everyone has called or stopped by to check on him. We've had family visiting and helping take care of little Michael so we can focus on getting Mike taken care of and preparing him for his recovery and getting him home. Beyond that, his work and friends there are and always have been so supportive and helpful. He has been getting offers for donated time off so he will continue to get paid leave and we don't have to worry about losing his income (his friend Russel is going to donate and AMAZING 3 weeks of time off). We are so grateful for everyone and all the blessings we have through this.

Settling In

We've spent the week moving and unpacking into our new home and it's been so amazing! It's great to have a place to call home and know it's your home. It's our safe haven and a place to relax and be a family. We still have quite a few boxes in the garage to be unpacked this weekend, but other than that we have pretty much settled in. Michael is in a stable environment where he has all his toys, a crib to sleep in, and his own room full of things he enjoys that makes him feel home. We have a place to hang our pictures and enjoy our belongings and memories again. And we are once again a family. Life is great and full of unexpected blessings and that has held so true in our journey to where we stand today. In a process that seemed to hold no hope and be just a dead end, we have come out on top in a position where we are comfortable with, and in a place to call home.

Moving Day!!! It's Official!!

On my lunch break today at work, I was able to pick up the keys to our new home. Everything is official and it's finally here! We can begin our life togethher as a family again and start new. I am so excited and feel so blessed that everything has fallen into place as it needs to for this to work. :)

The Countdown is Almost Over!!!!

This is how Michael starts his morning- cuddling with a blanket and watching SuperWhy and Curious George on TV until he gets his energy going. ;)

Michael has a large stuffed tiger that he ADORES! The other day he threw it into his bed and this is how I found him that night.

We drove to Twin Falls to visit Aunt Steph and Uncle Mike a couple of weeks ago and after a full day of fun and playing, Michael was sure worn out on the way home.



Over the last few months we have been working on buying a gorgeous new condo and now it is official. We had our final walk thru on Monday and we signed all the papers and got everything set up to transfer the title into our name yesterday. Just two more days and the house is ours to move into and make our home. :) It's been a long and emotional ride because we've made some poor choices in our past when it comes to our finances, but we've learned what is important and that no longer means having the house, nice cars, new toys, and still going out and playing around all the time. I have been able to sell my 2004 Malibu to get a paid off 2000 Elantra and we've paid all our debts so we are going into this house with a clean slate and fresh start. We are going into this with a better perspective and we will not make poor choices like we have in the past.
It's a new year, a new life, and a new start and I know this is going to be an amazing year!

Getting Fit in 2010

Wow! So I have made it my New Year's resolution to get back in shape. I am starting with a goal of going to the gym 3-4 days a week and I want to work my way to 5 days a week eventually. I have a membership to Gold's Gym and they offer a lot of classes to help get fit. Last night I went to the gym with my friend Sarah and we took a Body Flow class which incorporates Yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates all together. Well, we were in over our heads. Lol. We thought we were going to go to a relaxing and easy class, but instead our legs were shaking like jello and I have never sweat like that before. Lol. It was amazing and I now know why celebrities swear by it. I am sore today, but I feel good. It's definitely a class I'll be taking often. I now have two classes I love to help me reach my goal. The other class is Body Jam which is a high intense cardio dance class. It's a full hour of non-stop dancing and it's so much fun! They have a great child's area with a lot of toys, a castle and helicopter, amazing kitchen/bistro, tv's, coloring, and lots of other kids to play with so Michael gets to go lay while we work out. So here's to a New Year and getting fit!

Fiesta Baby!!!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! Lol. Last night, we all watched Boise State play an amazing BCS bowl game against TCU. We are considered the nation's best offense and we were playing the nation's best defense and with a couple of amazing plays, we came out on top for a win of 17-10 and an undefeated season once again of 14-0. We sat at home to watch the game and Michael was enjoying it just as much as the rest of us. Lol. He had his jersey on early in the game, but even after he got ready for bed, he was glued to the TV and holding his little BSU football as he watched. It was a great game and a great win that will hopefully make those big BCS-wigs take notice to what a great team we are. To make things better, I won a commemorative Fiesta Bowl football in a display case this morning on the radio! I'm so excited and proud of our team!

It's a Boy!!! Soon we will meet Matix!

Blase and his fiancee Marissa found out this morning that we will be getting a new baby boy to the family the end of May! I am so excited and happy for them and Michael will have a boy cousin here soon to play with! Time to start shopping!!!! They have decided to name him Matix (pronounced "Mattox"). Michael and Matix.... cute. :)

Christmas!

Cooper sleeping silly (his butt is against the back of the couch)

Michael loves Daddy's new pull up bar!
Michael's new Bistro Grill set!

Michael Hugging Fred, Grandma Ann's golden retriever.

Michael's First Craftsman Toolbench

This is fun! Michael loves his Kota Triceratops.

Michael with all his gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Citton

Michael wearing Mommy's Christmas antlers

Michael opening his new bedtime books

Michael riding Kota

This Christmas was so much fun now that Michael is old enough to understand what's going on. The poor little guy came down with pink eye just a few days before Christmas so the eye drop thing put a damper on things, but he is doing well and wasn't contagious by Christmas morning. We spent time with all our family members here that day and let's just say we were all a little spoiled this year for Christmas. Michael was especially spoiled however. Lol. From Mommy and Daddy, he got a baseball tee and bat, bounce and spin zebra, his first Craftsman tool bench, a bistro grill, and a leap frog dog. From other family members, he got Kota the Triceratops (he eats his leaf, if you rub under his chin he growls like he likes it and his tail wags, if you growl at it then he growls back, and more), a puzzle, a tractor with a rider and his dog, the leap frog tag reading system, a tonka truck and railroad system, a Barney doll and DVD, some interactive books as well as a couple new bedtime books, new Thomas the Tank Engine PJ's, some more balls, some bath toys, and some clothes. Mike and I are starting to wonder where we will put it all in the new house. Lol. We bought the Your Baby Can Read set a few months ago and haven't been incredible about keeping up on it, but this weekend Michael actually read the words "tiger" and "dog" (literally, just the word popped up on the TV screen without them saying anything or showing a picture). It was so exciting at only 18 months that it is working. His vocabulary is getting so big and he says new words every day. Cooper is getting so big, he's now the size of a small pomeranian and he's a total ball of energy, but a total sweetheart (and he's amazing with Michael). As far as the house goes, the inspection is being done this morning and if all goes well, we will be set to close on time and we can begin getting things set for the move in date. Life is going great for us right now and we look forward to everything coming up in the near future as well!

Now We Wait....

So we have signed all the papers on the house, we just have to let time do it's thing. We are having the inspector go in the week after Christmas hopefully, then the builder is having it all professionally cleaned for us, and we will hopefully be able to go in and paint prior to closing so we don't have to do it around all our furniture. We are so excited to just be together again as a family in our own home! I know it will go quickly since there are a lot of things we need before we move, but I just can't wait! Lol. Other than the house thing, life is good. Nothing too exciting is happening other than that. Michael has been adorable lately (and a troublemaker- lol). The funniest thing he's done was yesterday he was getting really cranky so I put my phone in my pocket and picked him up to take him to bed. A while after I laid him down, I realized I didn't have my phone (I always lose the silly thing), so I started calling it. After a few times it started going straight to my voice mail like someone was calling it at the same time or it had died. After about 20 minutes, I thought I would sneak into our room to see if I dropped it when I put Michael down for bed and as soon as I opened the door, he was sitting hunched over my phone with it open like he was texting! Silly boy! I laughed so hard. :) He's at a super fun age where he mimicks everything and he just wants to be a big boy. :)

Michael giving Grandma Maryan's snowman kisses (he also feeds him bites of all of his snacks too- lol)

Michael at Bath Time - Boy does he hate it when the water turns off!

It's Official!!!

WooHoo! We received the official acceptance on our house today! We are getting the green one instead, but it's all worked out so wonderful for us! We are just so excited!!!!

Michael reading the morning paper....

Such a doll... He wants to be a big boy.

Grandpa taking Michael for a ride around the house!

This Weekend...

It's been a fun weekend so far. We started Friday night off with Mike's work Christmas Party and that was a blast! Those prison workers sure know how to unwind and let off some steam. Lol. By the end of the night everyone was dancing, mingling, and laughing so hard that our cheeks hurt. Saturday night, we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the lights. They are absolutely beautiful during this time of year. The gardens stretch a ways up and over the rolling hills near the old state pennitentiary. Michael absolutely loved it! Even though it was a mere 27 degrees, the only time he wasn't completely happy and content was when I loaded him up in the car to leave. Sunday was a day of relaxation and homework and then today we signed our acceptance offer on our new home! We will be moving in no later than January 29th! We asked for a one month allowance so that we can go in and paint before we have furniture. Michael will get his perfect nursery/bedroom and we will have a personalized home before we even move our furniture in! Things are going so wonderful for us and we are so happy to be back on our feet and living our dreams!

Michael wrapped up nice at the Botanical Gardens

The Old State Penn Walls

Micahel Absolutely Giddy Over All The Lights

Talking Up A Storm About All The Pretty Colors

Funny Face, But We Were Having Fun

Just One Corner of The Lights As We Approached

What A Face- Lol... Singing Our Wedding Song As We Danced

So Cute! Ross and Sarah Dancing

Silly Girls

I think Chad Is Telling Us Dinner Was Yummy!

Ross and Sarah Dancing Again

And Again... Lol.

Ross And Sarah At The Dinner Table