As Requested, updates!

Dad has gone back to work as of Tuesday. He is not able to wear his work boots so he is wearing his tennis shoes. As I said before he cut the back off the right shoe so what he has done as of right now is used duct tape and taped a make shift back of a shoe!! I think that it is funny! I will be buying dad a new pair of shoes by Tuesday so he should be OK after that and can throw away the old ones! As I was just writing this I noticed that his shoes are on the floor next to me so that means that he has managed to get into his boots. That is a good sign! He must not be having as much or any pain anymore. He has not said anything about it hurting since the second day he was working and he eats at the table now. Everything seems to be much better with dad at this point! Keep fingers crossed!!!

Jonathan is fine! No problems with him, just working overtime!

Nathan is sick off and on. He has not yet wanted to honor is deal with me about going to the doctor for his stomach issues. All he says is that he had a cold and that I should give him another chance on feeling better before sending him to the doctor! I said OK but this is the last time that I will be willing to overlook the problem and he knows it!! He has been able to eat the last 4 or 5 days so it is looking good at this point!

David has been doing very well since he stopped drinking Dr Pepper! He has decided that it is only Dr Pepper that causes him to have a problem and all other sodas are fine however he still doesn't drink very many sodas! As a matter of fact, there is hardly any sodas at all drank around the house anymore, caffeine free or otherwise!!

Samuel is normal! He has a bad sun burn at the moment since he didn't want to listen to me when I told him he should put on sunblock! Maybe he will listen the next time!

Ashley is fine also. She is a little upset because for several months I kept telling her that she should try benadryl for her sneezing and sniffles. She insisted that she did not have allergies and it would be pointless to take it. I finally got her to take it and what do you know?! She has allergies and all of her symptoms are gone when she takes the medicine!! Sometimes I love being right!

I guess Kevin is doing OK, I really don't know as he doesn't speak much about anything to me. He comes home and eats something, goes up stairs and a couple hours later he might come down and join the family for dinner. Most of the time he says that he is not going to eat and stays upstairs. He no longer wants me to put fruit into his lunch, all he wants is a sandwich, cookies, and a bag of chips. he will take a banana in the morning if he remembers. I have started packing his lunch at night so I don't have to get up at 6am. I might be selfish by not getting up anymore but I get up half a dozen times at night to use the restroom and it takes me a very long time after each time up to get back to sleep and I am tired!

Other than the lack of sleep I am doing well. I don't get morning sickness anymore unless I get up early to make Kevin his lunch. That could be another reason that I don't want to get up at that time of day also! I get a few Sharp pains in my belly but have been told that it is just the muscles stretching to make room for the baby! They are not enough to bother me most of the time so it is OK. I get to find out in just a couple of days if I am having a baby girl or a baby boy so that is exciting! I still have problems with beef and chicken. I eat a couple of bites anytime that I make it but that is pushing it in most cases! I have started watching the proteins in everything that I eat to try to make up for not having meat on a regular! I still enjoy fruit and veggies everyday and upon looking in the What To Expect When Your Expecting book I found that is am exactly where I am suppose to be on the weight gaining! It is right on pound for pound what is expected!! That is awesome to me!! I will let everyone know what the doctor tells me on Monday and also put a picture on of my belly! It still is not that big yet but more and more jeans are not wanting to fit well!!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

So happy thirteenth birthday to you!!! I hope you got the card that I sent to you and that you do something with the money that is just for you!!

I remember when you were just a baby, that was a long time ago obviously but it seems like only a few days ago! Hopefully your not superstitious and are afraid of the number 13, you will be afraid for a year if you are!!

Wish I was there but happy birthday at any rate!

Happy Birthday Kaya!

OK, so I am a day late in getting this posted and I am very aware that she can not read it!! I posted three yesterday and then hit the garden so I didn't even think about it being Monday! Sorry Kaya!

Happy birthday and I hope you had more cake than any one year old child should ingest!! I sent you a card with some money in it so I hope you get it soon if you have not gotten it yet!!

We love and miss you very much! Hope to see you soon!

Happy Father's Day To All Father's!

So yesterday was father's day! Happy Father's Day! I hope all the dad's found themselves in a wonderful situation the whole day through and got all the hugs and kisses that they deserve, plus some!!

Ashley and I gave Kevin a card and the first season of Burn Notice on DVD. He got into the series late in the second season so we thought he would enjoy it. I left the decision up to Ashley on either the DVDs or a day of golf. She chose the movies and I am assuming that he is happy about them, he said thank you and that is not something he says ever or at least very often! He also was given a chocolate candy bar that was given out at church.

Dad was given the DVDs also by David. David gave him a card and Mash on DVD. I think it is all the episodes but can't seem to find them to make sure! I am assuming that he is happy about it!!

I gave Dad a card and couple of nut rolls!! I also told him that on the 29Th we are going to find him a new pair of shoes since he had to cut the back of his off to put his foot in them. I also gave him a Digital Picture Frame! It is just a small one but it holds up to 40 pictures! I heard him bragging about it and he was already into the box before we went to church!! I am good!!

I think that the dad's around here had a good day!! I hope all other dad's had just as good!!

A Sad Goodbye!

Well, Adrian has now gone to the Army. We dropped him off at a Motel when we were on our way to Vegas. We went to Golden Corral for Breakfast so that he would start his day off with a full belly and then gave him some money for lunch. The above picture he is trying to look adult like! Him reading a paper is very funny!! You can see he himself is having a hard time to not smile!

Here is a picture of Adrian, Ashley, and Kevin. Everyone but Kevin has a smile on. It frustrates me that he won't smile for pictures! Some of the pictures that were taken with Kevin in them are not OK to put on here, he is flipping off the camera (or me) I am not sure!

Here I am with my kids! They are so big compared to me! This is obviously before the sadness came as you can see I am smiling for the picture!

Here is one that we took with Adrian, Mom, and myself. You can kind of see some of the motel in the background! It was a very nice place! The army knows how to put them up nice before sending them to sleep on a cot!!

We got a picture of Mom, Ashley, and Adrian together. Aren't they just so cute?! I don't feel quite so bad as they tower over mom also!

Then we got the family picture together. This will be the last picture all together as a family for a long time. As soon as this picture was taken the tears began to fall! It is so sad to leave him there, I just got him a couple of years ago and have already had to let go. It makes me cry even now.

Here is the goodbye hug with Adrian and mom. You can't see it but his tears are there also. Mom gave him some advice in his ear when she said goodbye but I am not sure what she said. Whatever it was got his tears going a little harder!

Here he is with Ashley saying goodbye. You can tell he had been crying but between them, neither one cried at saying goodbye to each other.

The picture above is of him and Kevin saying goodbye. Kevin bit Adrian on his shoulder so we had to get another one of the two of them hugging goodbye. In the picture above you can see Kevin going in for the bite.

Below is the other picture that we got. Adrian as you can see is getting even! I did not try for another picture, I figured it wouldn't turn out good anyway and one or both would be bleeding!

Then came my turn to say goodbye. I am the typical mother and was crying! Not that you couldn't see that from the picture!! Ashley decided that she just wanted to get into the picture! Looking at the picture it kind of takes the emotion out of it seeing her with a great big smile on her face!
We got a picture of Adrian and I saying goodbye from his angle also. It is very noticeable that he is in tears. I think I was crying harder when this picture was taken, even though you can not see it!

I am missing him everyday and pray for him constantly! I am very proud of him for making the decision that he did and I hope that it was the right one for him! I love you Baby Boy! Be good and stay safe! I miss you very much and three months can not come soon enough.

We got a letter from him that gave us his mailing address. He is requesting hundreds of letters so below is the address, I suggest everyone get started righting right away!!

PVT Adrian Rushing
4TH Platoon, Warriors
B Company, 1ST Battalion, 13TH Infantry Regiment
Fort Jackson, South Carolina
29207

Vegas!!

So the picture above and the one below are of Fremont street! We did that the first night that we were here! They did a tribute to Queen but the video that Ashley took of it is very long so we are trying to figure out how to shorten it so that we can post it! If it was posted the way it is it would take you at least 4 minutes to watch it! The pictures that are of the light show are actually of the preview for the up coming shows, they are doing a flash back to the 60's! Flower power if you can't tell from the pictures! Kevin chose not to join us and opted to stay in the car as we did this part of the trip. He missed a good show!


OK, everyone knows that dad and EBay go together very well! Below is a picture of a slot machine that we found that dad would have just loved! Can you see why??

We went to the M&M store and while there we all got some pictures of us taken. Kevin is the only one that was not willing, at all!

Mom is very tricky! The picture above as well as the one below she got when he was not looking. I think that he knew he was getting his picture taken but wanted to make a big fuss over mom taking it when he "wasn't looking!!"


Mom is below posing with her favorite M&M, Yellow! He brings out the color in her eye's don't you think!!??


I couldn't let her have all the fun so I had to pose with my favorite, Green! She is awesome! I was doing something and the person in the Green costume came out of the elevator. I missed her but mom and Ashley saw her! Dang the luck!!

Ashley is posing so perfectly for her personality!! When we first stepped into the box thing to get a picture done, she had a better pose that this but wouldn't do it for a picture!

Here she and I are together! Not as cute as hers above!

We also had gone to the coke store and took a picture with the coke bear! He said that mom's camera was not working so we bought pictures upstairs that have a picture showing in the background besides the green screen! As it turns out the camera did work and so we have a couple to show here! The ones that we bought has the bear with a paw on mom's head and then the other one has the bear eating Ashley's head!! I think that they turned out cute!

As you can see, Kevin once again was not in the picture! It is sad that he didn't want much to do with the trip and what we were having fun doing but in the end the three of us (Ashley, Mom, and myself) had a good time!

We wanted to see Mama Mia but as we unfortunately found out they quit doing the show on January 4Th 2009. It was sad that we got the chance but then were not able to do it! I bought the movie when I got back but it is just not the same I am sure! Instead of doing nothing we did go and see a show! We went and saw the Bodies Exhibit! I am not sure how many of you have seen this but it was awesome! I was amazes at all of the things that go on in a body to make it work! I enjoyed every second while in there and i am sure that mom did also! Ashley had to learn stuff so I think she liked it for the most part but would have been much happier sitting and having someone perform on a stage! Kevin did not say much about it either way. He went through it faster than anyone else and when Mom and I got to the last room he was sitting on a bench sleeping! Even if he didn't have a good time, like I said above, I enjoyed myself!

For dinner we had gift certificates for the restaurant Planet Hollywood that is in the Cesar's Palace. We went to dinner and all ordered different things. I had fajitas, Kevin had a hamburger, Mom had a Tuscan chicken sandwich, and Ashley had ribs! The certificates were for $120.00 total. After he put a gratuity of almost $17.00 on the bill my total was only $12.00!! I left him another $5.00 in addition to what was already charged and so I ended up paying for only the tip!! I was impressed with that!

We went and saw the show at Treasure Island and decided that i was not as impressed as I thought I was going to be! It was so crowded and I just didn't find it as interesting as I expected! When we left there we went and saw the fire show at the Mirage. It was the last show of the night so it was the shortest of them all. That was a bumber but it was still good! We were going to go and see the water show at the Balagio but it was already after midnight and we decided to let Ashley decide what she wanted to do. She decided to skip it saying that her feet hurt!

We went back to the hotel and got Ashley into the room and then we all went gambling. Our gambling money was $40.00 each and I left the casino with $30.00. Upon checkout the next day Mom and I saw a couple of machines that she enjoyed at a casino before and so we decided to play a couple of dollars. I won some and so I got a little excitement with mom at the end of the vacation. We left the hotel and drove to an In and Out burger and got food! It was awesome and I have hard time eating burgers! I almost finished a burger but had problems about a third of the way through! We filled the tank and headed home!! It was a fun trip! The only sad thing was that Adrian was not there!

What is going on here!

I know that everyone is waiting for the post of the trip to Las Vegas as well as the goodbye to Adrian. I am waiting to get to the computer that has the pictures on it and then I will have it posted!

Dad has been home for some time! He has an infection called celulitous in his leg. He is not able to walk very well and has been on crutches. He keeps his leg propped up most of the time on the drawer of his desk. I guess one good thing is he is able to keep in practice for solitaire!!! He does go outside every now and again and looks at the garden or tells Samuel where to plant something. He went for a week each day over to Roosevelt and had injections through an iv for it and is now seeing the doctor at the clinic in town. He is still taking antibiotics and his foot and leg are swollen. He wears a compression sock to relieve some of the swelling and I am assuming that it is working some even though he is still not able to put on his work boots and had to cut the back out of his shoe to put it on! He goes back to the doctor on Monday so we can get you updated on that day for his condition!

Jonathan works and that is about all! Of course he picks on everyone that allows him to get on their nerves! That is about all for him though!

David has started sleeping upstairs in our family room because Samuel's dog Clover had puppies in his room and he hates the smell!! Eventually they will be big enough to give away and we can get his room fresh with a couple of bottles of frebreeze!! Other than his constant texting and watching movies he just works!! He complains about the work but I am sure the check will be nothing to complain about!

Samuel still does not work besides around here at the house. He does all that he is told or asked to do by Dad! I can get him to do things for me every now and then but for the most part doesn't want to since I am just his sister! His dog had 7 puppies!! They are cute now but I am sure that as they get bigger they will look more and more like the mom and she is a heeler! I will take pictures and post them later also!

Adrian is gone. I am very sad that he is not here and even though it has only been a week and a half it feels like an eternity! I got a post card from him a few days ago and he said that the first day sucked because he got yelled at for having a big belt!! I am sure he has now figured it out but he is going to get yelled at for everything even if he is not responsible! He only addressed me on the postcard and that upset Kevin some.

Ashley has started going to a therapist over in Price. She seems like a nice lady and we drive over there every two weeks. She has had two sessions thus far and the first one I went into the room but have opted to stay out for the rest unless I am asked to go in. I figure she will make better progress and be more open if I am not there listening. The only reason that I went in the first time was because the lady wanted to know all of the issues that she is having. By my telling what issues there were it insures that all of the problems can be resolved and Ashley doesn't just say that nothing is wrong or not say all of the things that are the issues! Hopefully all gets resolved, most is of course on her and how much she wants to resolve the problems. I hope she will take advantage of this experience and become the person that she wants to be and the person that we can all see she wants to be!

I am good. I am almost over my sickness!! I love it! I hate cooking things with hamburger and lately chicken has gotten worse for me. I can eat veggies and fruit still and very few other things! Kevin does not think that I am healthy since I am not able to eat meat. I figure vegetarians are healthy and they never eat any meat so I should be good to go! I also figure that if I was not gaining wait properly I would be told at the doctors office! I feel good so I am not worried! That is about all there is new here!

Graduation

I had to put in this rose! The graduates were given a rose along with the diplomas and so I thought I would post how pretty they were!

Here is David walking down at the beginning with Angel. He looks like he is having a good time!!

Here is Adrian also at the beginning walking down. His partner was Patricia. He does not look like he is in that good of a mood or having a good time! He was not happy about who it was that he had to walk down with and she insisted on putting her arm threw his as they walked. It was not required and he kept telling her that he did not want to do it. As they began to walk he had his arm as tight to his side as he could get it and she still forced her arm in! He was a gentleman about it and didn't make a scene, but he was still not happy!


This is the entire graduating class for the year of 2009 from Duchesne High School! Having graduated from here, Amy this is bigger than your class! For the rest of the family that graduated from Midland High school, this would not even put a dent into the graduates with the last names starting with A's!! The difference is crazy!!

I skipped the pictures of all the people that was doing speeches and things! Most of you would not even know who they were and since there was no sound recorded, it is just as well to get to the goo stuff!!

It is kind of blurry but this is Adrian walking across the stage to receive his diploma! For some reason he still doesn't look like he is having a good time!! This was my favorite part when I graduated, it meant I was really done with high school!!

Here is David taking that same walk and of course, a smile on his face!! He gets the enjoyment I guess!! Oh, the blond girl that is behind his back is a girl that auctioned off a kiss to raise money for the senior trip! David won with a grand total of $50.00! He still has not gotten his kiss yet but they got the money! Not fair! They even tried to get her to give him his kiss there during the graduation ceremony, no go!

Again, a blurry one! This is a picture of Tyrell. He is a friend of David's and Adrian's. Also since he lives with Janice and Guy, I figured he could be considered family in a way!

Here they all are preparing to throw the caps! I didn't throw mine very far when I did it, in fact, I just put my hand in the air but held on to it! I decided that there was over 900 caps that I would have to find mine in and it would take to long! They all threw theirs though!

OK, so these two last pictures are out of order! Sorry. The one below is of the actual cap tossing and the one above is of them standing in the line outside! David doesn't look as thrilled in this one as Adrian is actually showing emotion!! I made the whole line stop so that Dad could take this picture of them! He had been trying for a long time so finally I took action!
The cap toss looks really good, Dad caught it at the perfect time!

So this is the graduation! I have posted all the other blogs that I have been behind on so continue to read on!

My Baptism

This is when we first got to the church, before changing into the baptismal cloths! Dad doesn't smile much in any of the pictures that he is in, but I am sure that he is happy that he is here!

Below is with Adrian and Ashley! I am sure that you are missing Adrian's excitement of the day!!

Janice and Lori came and we were able to have a picture together. Katherine and the boy Tyrell that is living with them also came . They were late so not picture with them. The same for Jana and her family! We actually were delayed almost 20 minutes waiting for them to arrive from Roosevelt! I was glad that they were all able to be there though!

Below is Dad and I after changing! When he came out I made a joke saying that I was going to have to change, we showed up in the same outfit!! It was funny to use! Again you can see his smile right?!?

Of course I had to have one with dad and mom! They are major reasons as to why I am where I am today! Through all of my mistakes in life they have stood by me and gave me support!

Here is all of my brothers!! Of course Andrew is not here but I guess they just wouldn't let him fly home right quick for this occasion! Oh well, he was there in our hearts! Marni and the kids also!!

Below is of the whole family! Of course we were missing a couple but it was understandable as to why! The same as with Andre, everyone was there in my heart!

One of the most important people to me was the closest! Kayleigh was the biggest influence to me in my making the changes that I needed to make in my life! I felt her with me through out this day as well as all of the days that lead up to it. She was with me as I struggled in reaching this goal! I want to also say thank you to everyone for not giving up on me and supporting me through all of my trials! You have all helped in making me who I am and helping me to actually find that person!

P.S. Dad is smiling in this picture!! Isn't he just handsome!

The newest baby picture!

So both of these pictures are the same one! One is closer up than the other and I was not sure which one showed better details! Dad took them of the sonogram with his camera rather than try to scan it into the computer. We had problems with getting it to post on the blog the last time when he did that! It was to early to tell what sex the baby is, the doctor said that he couldn't see anything in between the legs! Hopefully it stays that was because there is nothing in between them and we get blessed with a girl!! While having this picture taken, I got a wave from the baby! It was very awesome!
I have been given a choice for my next appointment in being able to decide if I want the tests to be done to find out if this baby has down syndrome! There are two types, the one that deals with a needle going into my stomach and then a regular blood withdrawal that tests for it that way. I have thought about it for the last few days and have decided that I don't want either one! The way that I am thinking is that if this child does have down syndrome then I can consider myself to be very blessed by the lord for getting given such a wonderful gift!
Everything is going well with the pregnancy and upon weigh in I have only gained one pound since my appointment last month! I have not taken a picture of the belly this time but will get one when in Vegas!

Day With Marni And The Kids

Above is when we first got to the park and Marni was trying to get Lilly to smile!! She is fighting it so hard!

Below is what we ended up getting!! So cute! To bad she doesn't do this all the time!!


He was like this when we first arrived! Poor baby, he is all tuckered out and the day had only just begun!

A few minutes later he was awake and super cute!

Still cute!

Here he is with mom, smiling and just being adorable!! I did not get a picture of it but earlier when I first saw him I pinched his checks! Later on he was pinching mine back!! I guess it is only fair!
This is Lilly at the very top of Rapunzel tower! She is playing the part of Rapunzel! She makes a good Rapunzel don't you think!

She looked over and this was the best that I could get since this particular swing was going in circles! I still think that she is cute even without a smile on her face!


Above is a picture of her going down the slide by herself! She is very brave! Below is one of the half dozen times that I went down with her until she got that courage to do it on her own! Once she had her confidence it was hard to get her to do anything else!

And then we all got a picture together at the end! Lilly of course was not smiling and then Grant was giving mom some love instead of looking at the camera! To cute though!

All in all it was a fabulous afternoon! After a little bit of playing Lilly came around to us and had a good time! Grant was super sweet and did a lot of smiling!! Oh, and just for those that were not at the park, the above picture looks like Lilly has had an accident, she was just getting a drink from the water fountain and it missed her mouth just a little! We will have to do it again sometime but stay for a little longer!