Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Tagged

Rules
1. The player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves - try to find 6 you haven't already posted about.

2. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules.


6 things about me

1. I love Christmas. My tree is up (though still waiting for decorations). and I'm itching to start playing Christmas music.

2. I am addicted to playing nintendo wii. in particular, mario (anything mario). my latest one is super mario galaxy. I could play it all day, every day. i have to force myself to turn it off so that I get things done around the house.

3. I love cooking. I love trying new recipes. luckily my husband is willing to try just about anything once, as long as i make meatloaf or shephard's pie occassionally.

4. I am sure that i'm having a baby girl in april. don't ask me why. (though I'll be just as happy with another little boy).

5. I want to get into photography. I got a great new camera and would love to do family portraits, etc. ever since we took photography in grade 8 i've had a desire to take pictures. (if you want to give me a try, just let me know).

6. I love my van. even with just one kid it's the greatest thing in the world. i never have to worry if there's enough room for the stroller and all my groceries. I wouldn't give it up for anything.

there, now you know me a little better.

now i'm tagging shelsea, chris, michelle, mandy, diana, cassidy. (i know that not all have blogs, so i figure those that don't can post theirs on facebook).

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Thursday, October 4, 2007


Summer is over, and fall begins. I'm sad to see summer gone, but look forward to fall and all the great things that means. Cool days, cozy blankets, cuddles, thanksgiving, halloween, pumpkin pie, and so much more.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Fall is here

Well, summer went by way too fast. I can't believe that it's over. But we had a blast this summer and did lots of fun things. September has started out great too, with Chris home for two weeks of holidays. We've spent the time as holidays should be spent, together and having fun. We haven't really gone away, but as long as we're together, it doesn't matter, right.

For those of you that keep up with our lives here, but aren't on facebook, we're expecting baby #2. I'm due April 5th and feeling great. We're excited for this new addition to our family.

Friends

Why God Made Friends

God made the world with a heart full of love,
Then He looked down from Heaven above,

And saw that we all need a helping hand,
Someone to share with, who’ll understand.

He made special people to see us through
The glad times and the sad times, too;

A person on whom we can always depend,
Someone we can call a friend.

God made friends so we’ll carry a part
Of His perfect love in all our hearts.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Summer dreams

Summer is flying by so fast! I'm not sure where it has gone. It has been a great summer. just the right amount of family vacation and fun things to do. With more vacation fun to come (2 weeks in September). I like having Park Lake close and the kiddy pool in the back yard even closer. ryker loves playing outside and would be out there from the moment he wakes until late at night if i let him. All the hot weather and hearing about others adventures in the Philippines has made me homesick for the Philippines. I would love to go back there and enjoy the people, the culture, the food, and the great beaches. Chris is all for a visit, even moving there if I found a job. That got me thinking about all the places we could go...I really would like to go the New Zealand, I've only heard good things. Once I started talking about it Chris has started looking at job opportunities for him and it's amazing what you can find if you only look. So, the plan is...save all our money, work hard, then play even harder in a year or two, taking some vacations from New Zealand to all the places we can on the other side of the world (like the Philippines). Sounds like fun to me!

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

hot, hot, hot

I don't have a lot to say, I just figured it was time to update the blog. We had a great week last week. we got to spend time together as a family all week. we went to waterton for the first half of the week. the weather was great. ryker loved the deer, he tried to pet them all. we learned that he's got a natural desire to climb. he scaled the rock wall at red rock all by himself. the rest of the week we spent in taber and welling visiting grandparents. the raymond parade was tons of fun on monday too. now we're back to real world. but with the hot weather coming ryker and i are going to spend a lot of time in the water!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

health care

A good friend of mine (Tina Hall) posted the following on her blog:

I don't generally watch the news but last night I stayed up and watched the Calgary Global News hour @ 11pm. The top story was about a 18 year old boy who was taken to Emergency and diagnosed with a burst appendix and was scheduled for surgery. While he and his mom waited, 12 hours passed and sadly so do he. Yes you read it right, he died. The CHR says it wouldn't have matter how long or short the wait was, he would have died no matter what. I am puzzled by this, why then schedule him for surgery if there was nothing they could do to prevent the worst outcome? Why not tell the family there's nothing they can do and to have all his family with him in his last hours? Why? The CHR's response doesn't make sense to me.
On the KTLA news their top story was about a women in pain and laying on the floor of a Emergency waiting room in a US Hospital, somewhere. As she laid there in pain no one on staff would help her. I don't know why she couldn't get help, but she ended up dying right there, in a place that had the full capacity to prevent it.
So This posts titled "Really!", because from my last post, making an ER visit the other day, I am REALLY Thankful to have have and ER so close and to have short waiting times. Yes Nevee wasn't a serious case but still her croup could have been so bad her vocal cords could have swollen shut in the very worse scenario. Our hospital isn't equipped with everything, if surgery is needed you would be rushed to Lethbridge Regional. But by the time you wait at the LRH and are seen and diagnosed you would probably already be in surgery if you had been looked at in Raymond and taken to the LRH. (does that make sense?)
Anyway REALLY Thankful is how I feel!


and this is her previous post about her own visit to emerg.

I hummed and haud a little because I didn't want to waste any ones time and didn't think there was anything they really could do. But I called Debi, she was over in 5 mins and I took Nev to the Hospital. The Nurse listened to her breathing asked if she had asthma, I said "no", and took her temperature, 39.6 C. Yikes. The X-Ray tech was called in and the Dr came in just after. X-rays were take of Nevee's chest to see if there was any fluid in her lungs. Dr. Greg Smith came in and as soon as he herd her cough he said "Oh I wish my intern was here, that is the classic cough for croup. We should record it, it's so textbook." lol. He listened to her lungs and checked the x-rays, no fluid in her lungs. Good! He explained about croup that it is essentially her vocal cords swelling from a virus and the raspy sound is just the air trying to get in and out. Kind of like if you were whistling. He prescribed one dose of something, called Dex.... something, that would take care of the worst of it and if she couldn't breathe well again to take outside for 10 mins or so. I guess cold air shrinks the vocal cords when it comes to croup. No wonder why she felt better that afternoon when she went out to play. My Poor baby! So I tilted this post Thankful, there are so many reasons why:
1. To live in this prosperous country, province and town.
2. I didn't have to pay for a ER visit.
3. Didn't have to pay for the meds.
4. No x-ray fee.
5. Only waited 5 mins to see the nurse and then 25 mins to see the x-ray tech and another 15 minutes to see the Dr. I was in and out of there in 50 minutes.
6. Diagnosis wasn't asthma or worse.
7. Technology and medical research
8. My mother in law
9. Kirk for pushing me to go.
10. Nurse Lisa, x-ray Margaret and Dr. Smith they were wonderful


about the boy with the burst appendix...once it has burst, there is very little to do, except get in and clean it out because it is a major source of infection. he was probably septic (which means the infection got into his blood and spread all over), they were right when they said it didn't matter how long he waited. they didn't know that he would die and they will still do all they can (schedule the surgery and get him in as fast as they can, which may not seem very fast to the public, but it's not as easy as it seems.
as for the lady in the US emerg...triage puts through those that are the sickest and those that aren't need to wait. unfortunately sometimes you can't tell exactly what is wrong with a person. and just because she was screaming in pain, doesn't put her to the front of the line (i've seen plenty of people in "pain" that really weren't that bad off). it is sad, but the same thing could happen here.
as for your visit to the raymond emerg, don't let that cloud your vision. wait times in lethbridge can be just as bad as calgary. even if you are coming from a rural site. don't get me wrong, emergent (life threatening) cases do get in faster (they do anywhere), but it may not be as fast as you think. it's because people (the exact opposite of you) go to emerg for the stupidest things and take time and beds from those that really need them (like the lady the died in the waiting room). we all need to be smart about how we use our medical resources.

I post this in hopes of clarifying some things and giving another persective. as health care workers it is hard to explain some things to families, especially when they are grieving the loss of a loved one. we really do all that we can to help those that need help. it's not always easy and sometimes mistakes are made, other times there are too many and not enough resources.
my second purpose is to make people think carefully about how they use the health care system. we need to use it wisely. tina, you needed to use it, and you benefited from a great system. we don't need to go to emerg when the problem can wait until you can see a doctor at a clinic (splinters, cold, flu, rash, other minor problems). even stitches can be done at a clinic or urgent care facility (we've got urgent care in picture butte with a doctor on call 24h). check out the resources available to you before running to emerg.
there, have i vented enough? i have other issues with health care, but we'll save those for another day!

Monday, June 11, 2007

Feeling good

I have been feeling great this past week. I have been doing something active almost every day, whether I run/walk (my last "run" I did actually run most of the time), ride my bike (I've got added resistance with Ryker in the chariot, I love the chariot, it was a great investment), or climbing (Chris and I went with mom and dad on friday night, wow, it's been forever since I've done that and my arms were sore after), or tennis (we bought tennis rackets and made good use of the tennis courts in Picture Butte, even though we're not very good, it was fun). It's becoming easier to get up and move now. I don't have to convince myself that it will be worth it, I now know it will be worth it. Eating habits are slowly coming under control. though that is taking more work. It doesn't help when I go to work and there always seems to be timbits or chips or other such snacks. I have been resisting for the most part, as when I do eat all those things I end up bloated and feeling gross by the end of my shift. (as I sit here finnishing a timbit). I have made an influence on Chris too. Just the other night he went for a bike ride on his own. We'll see how this upcoming week goes.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

A Quiet Sunday Morning

Even with just the three of us in our family Sunday mornings seem crazy. Chris is usually gone by 8am for meetings all morning. Leaving Ryker and I to get ready by our selves. Occasionally he'll have time to come home to get us, but often we'll have to get out of the house on our own. Usually I'll be trying to gather what I need for my lesson, Ryker's Sunday bag and snacks to keep him happy, as well as making sure we're both dressed and ready to go. This morning, though, things seem more under control. Ryker had a shower last night and is sleeping (since the afternoon nap will be delayed) I am ready to go and had a few minutes to just relax and prepare for the Sabbath day. I love the quiet sound of nothing...well, I had better get Ryker up and dressed so that we're not late for church. We're going to walk to church this morning, it's so beautiful outside!

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Booster Juice

Now that Ryker has learned to suck through a straw no drink will ever be safe again. Especially a booster juice. Ryker seems to have taken a liking to anything cold, like booster juice, orange julius, and milkshakes. The other day we got Booster Juice and Ryker managed to charm his dad into giving him (Ryker) his (dad's) booster juice. it was 1/2 gone by the time we got home. Then, at home. He stole my booster juice and just about finnished that one off!

Ryker's haircut

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Inspiration

Ok, Tina, you've inspired me...I just read your blog about your two month goals. I too have been trying to improve my health. I can't blame it on my son, it was my choice to eat McDonald's fries and chocolate so often. I try to blame it on my low iron (also my fault, but I'm not quite ready to go there yet, so I'll suffer through Iron pills every day), which makes me tired all the time. I have so many excuses that really aren't good excuses. So, it stops here. I've already registered for ladiesfest (an 8km run) in June. Training will be essential (otherwise I'll pass out before I can finnish). I know I won't finnish first (or even 10th), but I want to be able to finnish without feeling like I'm going to die.
Goals...
-->run/walk/ride bike at least 4 times a week (I can do this, Ryker and I can go to the library the long way, we can ride bikes as a family, I can go out when Chris is home and I need a break)
-->eat good foods (no more eating out)
-->stop eating after 7:30pm
-->eat breakfast
-->limit treats/junk (notice I'm not cutting it out, I think all things in moderation is my motto here)
-->do yoga/pilates twice a week (to start)

Please ask about my progress. I'll keep you posted on how things are going. (thanks Tina, for the extra boost, good luck to you too)
There are so many things I want to do in my life. Like any goal, I need to write it down and be accountable. Otherwise, I'll never do anything, and no one will know how lazy I am. So, here are some things that I want to do...(some are short term, some are long term)
1. be in a triathlon
2. visit every province and territory
3. visit every state
4. return to the philippines
5. finnish my nursing degree
6. go to switzerland
7. have more kids
8. go in a hot air balloon
9. run a marathon
10. see Stomp
11. go to Mount Everest
12. serve a mission with Chris
13. go to new zealand
14. read the Book of Mormon each year
15. relearn to play the piano
that looks like a good start, I'll keep adding to it.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Birthday thoughts

Well, I turned 29 yesterday. I almost had a small crisis, I really am getting old and I don't know what to think about it. Then, this morning my grandpa called to wish me a happy birthday and made a comment that made me feel much better. I really have done a lot in my life to be proud of...I served a mission in the Philippines, I am a registered nurse, I'm a mom (which is the very best thing), I own a home, I really am happy with where I am in my life (though there is always room for improvement). I guess it's not such a crisis to be 29. We'll see how I feel next year. The only problem I have now is that I have to make my own birthday cake! I did tell Chris that it is MY birthday cake, and that means I don't HAVE to share with anyone else (I will, though).

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

The beginning

This is the beginning of our family website. I was jealous of all of you that already have sites and blogs and all that, so here we are. I figured I could give it a try. I never knew how much fun, busy, crazy, wild, out of control life could be. I used to think I had tons to do, but not until Ryker joined our family did I really understand. I love spending my days playing, colouring, dancing, spinning, wrestling, and laughing. Even when he is driving me crazy pulling everything out of the cupboards, or eating the dog food, I can't help but give him a big hug and tons of kisses. I figure I should kiss him as much as I can now, because in a few years he won't let me. I can't believe how fast this past year has gone and how much he's grown. I don't get to be a full time stay at home mom, but I do enjoy going to work to have some adult interaction and to work my brain. I am reminded each time I do work how much I love being at home and being a MOM. I only work casually and only a few days a week. So many people always ask if I'm going to apply for a postition (whether full time or part time) and are surprised when I say that I'm happy with my casual position. I like being able to pick my own shifts and say no when I want to spend time with my family. Ryker has had no problem with daycare, especially since we've switched to the daycare just down the street. He acts as though he is right at home and loves playing with all the other kids. I am glad that he only has to go a few days a month. I do miss him terribly when I'm at work.