TAGGED!!

Well it looks like I've been tagged (thanks Michelle!). :) I'm going to be lame though and not tag anyone but any of you who want to, feel free to do this as well.

10 years ago....
1.) I was working for Predator Software
2.) Still adjusting to being married
3.) Had recently moved to Oregon from Idaho
4.) Stressing over rent being more than our house payment in Idaho
5.) Trying to start a family

Tomorrow's to do....
1.)Get the kids fed
2.)Clean up the downstairs
3.)Fold at least one load of laundry that's sitting at the end of my bed.
4.)Go to my parents for a BBQ
5.)Play games with the kids

Places I have lived....(that I have memories of)
1.) Roseburg, Oregon
2.) Fremont, California
3.) Aloha, Oregon
4.) Vancouver, Washington
5.) Idaho Falls, Idaho
6.) Suisun City, California
7.) Rexburg, Idaho

If I were a millionaire....
1.) Sell our house and move out into the country
2.) Travel (there are MANY places I want to go to)
3.) Get better vehicles
4.) Update my wardrobe
5.) Send money annonymously to family and friends

My favorite snacks.... (these are just a few)
1.) Chocolate chip cookie dough
2.) Dr. Pepper (right now it's diet though)
3.) Chips and dip
4.) Fresh fruit
5.) Grape tomatoes (fresh from the garden)
6.) Mixed nuts

Masterpiece

Last month I was going through a magazine that had some cake recipes in them. I saw this one and thought it looked easy enough to make, not to mention fun so I decided to give it a try.

The end result (with a few changes):

Even though it wasn't the prettiest thing, it sure was good tasting!

Camping

This year we stayed close to home for our yearly camping trip. About 20 minutes away is a nice lake with camping. The lake is surrounded by trees so it's like you're miles away from civilization. Besides not wanting to travel far, there were flushing toilets (I hate taking little kids to use the poopshoots, which were up by our site), showers if needed, a playground for the kids and not to mention the lake itself. Children under 4 were not allowed to play in the water, ecoli and other bacteria, so we got a little raft and life jackets to go out onto the lake with. Because we were late to reserve a campsite, we were stuck with one of the primitive sites. That means we had to wheelbarrow everything to our site. That part wasn't fun, pushing ALL our stuff uphill (and we have a lot of stuff) but it was away from the cars and we didn't have to worry about the kids running out into the road. Pretty sure we won't ever do a primitive site again, at least not until everyone is old enough to help.

When we got there, the parking lot was completely full. The camp director said we could park and unload by the entrance but that we'd have to park down at the lower parking lot until something opened up. Great. We had discovered one of the reasons why it was so crowded, besides being a beautiful day, there was a wedding happening. So we backed in and made a wheelbarrow run up. When we came back down, I saw someone loading their fishing gear into the back of their truck so I asked if they were leaving, which they were, and stood there so no one else could park there while Doug got in the truck and moved it. One vehicle down. Did I mention we have a lot of camping stuff? We have so much that we have to take out the back seats in the van and use the pickup. So after the truck is parked, we take another load up. On the way up, Shan, Bry and Aid want to play at the park. I tell the older ones to keep an eye on Aid, they have to be very careful because there are a lot of people around and really emphasized that they have GOT to watch him. Yes, mom, yes, mom, we will. After we got up to the site we decided to put the tent up over the table since that was a pain to put up and we didn't need extra hands trying to "help". When we had just gotten it set up, here comes a park ranger, Shan and Aid in tow, Bry got there just before them. Apparently Aid had wandered off while the other two played and other adults were getting concerned because no one was around claiming him. Another Great. He asked if all these kids were ours and yes, they were and then he said something about it being too much of a responsiblilty for the older ones to watch him, to which Doug's response was, "Apparently." Now, both of us are embarrassed since he just made us feel like irresponsible adults that shouldn't have four children and we still have two vehicles to unload. What a way to start a vacation, but at least it wasn't raining! We got the rest of our stuff unloaded and was even able to park the van right next to the truck. By this time the kids were tired, hungry, whining and crying. We ate late and put the kids to bed early.

Enjoying hot chocolate.

This was too funny. I watched her as she scooted her chair away from the fire and when she did, her hot chocolate dumped over without her realizing it. When she sat down and looked in her cup, this was the result. Glad I had the camera for this one.

The rest of the time was fairly nice. We took a hike around the lake, it was beautiful and did some exploring. The kids played a lot down at the playground. My parents came up for a while one day and we went out on the lake with the raft. I think Papa had fun. The nights for me were not fun. I'm a light sleeper so that combined with an unfamiliar place, bed, and children (I cannot sleep with kids near me) make for a long night. The last two nights Liv woke up right around two am coughing and would cough for a good 1/2 hour. The coyotes would wake me up along with the kids wiggling themselves out of their sleeping bags. We were constantly covering the two younger ones up. But despite all that, we love to camp and the memories we get from it are priceless.

They were watching the bubbles come up from someone scuba diving in the lake.

On our hike.

It didn't take long for someone to poop out. By the end Doug and I were both carrying the younger ones on our backs.

Picture time! It was just so pretty, couldn't help myself.

That's an inch worm on the end of her nose. She had that thing crawling all over her. Ew!

How do they do it?

I do not see how people in the medical field, I think they are called residents, can go 24 hours working a shift.

As a lot of you already know, I'm a doula, helping moms physically, emotionally, mentally through the labor and delivery of their baby's. I'm also a volunteer doula (meaning I'm do not get paid for services) for a program called Operation Special Delivery. It's a wonderful program for military expecting mom's to get free labor support while their husbands are deployed. Another doula and I have been working together with this mom who was expecting their first baby (dad is currently on the east coast). Her due date was the 17th so we've just been playing the waiting game. Saturday morning just before 7am I get a call from my partner saying the mom's water had broken a few hours earlier and that they were going to be heading into the hospital within the next hour or so. Of course, I had things planned for that day so my partner, Patty, was so kind to go in first and let me get some things done since the mom wasn't really having regular contractions yet. So I went and worked out with my friends Marissa and Kellie, came home and showered then went to the movies with my mom, Marissa and her mom. We went and saw Mama Mia. LOVED IT!!!! My parents used to play all the ABBA records so I knew all the songs, sorry Marissa if I annoyed you with my humming along. After the movie I called to see how things were going and it was still real slow so I was able to go clean my grandparents half of the house (mom and dad take care of their side while I clean for my grandparents). I checked in with Patty again and we decided I'd go to the hospital to relieve her about 7pm.

When I get there, Patty fills me in with the details. Not much progress. The contractions are only about 5-7 minutes apart, mom is handling them well. So, we walk the halls, sit on the birth ball, sit on the toilet, taking one contraction at a time. During each and every contraction, all night, mom needed her back rubbed (by me) while either her mom or cousin held her hand. She was finally checked around midnight and she was only dialated to 1cm and baby was still really high. It was decided to give her some morophine/phenergan to help her get some rest. It didn't work. She was given pit. to help speed up the contractions which made it harder for her to cope with the pain. In the end, she got an epidural (all of which she was really hoping to avoid). Two hours after the epi they checked her and she was at 4cm. About three hours after that she was fully dialated. By this time Patty had arrived back at the hospital with a good nights sleep. I didn't go home since I knew it wasn't going to be too much longer. Just after 11:30am the baby was born.

I had my phone on vibrate during the time I was there and about a half hour after all the excitement, I heard my phone vibrate. It's my other client, she had called twice in the past hour and a half. Oh boy, I thought. I gave her a call and she tells me that she thinks her water broke. We talked for a few minutes and it was decided that she should talk to her care provider since it was around 2 in the morning when it broke and it was now 12:30 in the afternoon. She really didn't want to go to the hospital since she wasn't really having that strong of contractions so she said she'd call me after she talked to her doctor. I go back to Patty and the mom and tell them I need to get home, congratulated mom and headed home. Of course the dr. told my new mom she needed to get to the hospital right away because of the risk of infection, yada,yada but she told me they were going to take their time, walk the dog and get there when they get there. That's great, it gives me some time to get home, eat something, take a shower and hopefully get a nap in. I do end up getting a four hour, albeit interrupted, nap. It was decided to meet this mom at the hospital at 7pm, the first mom delivered at SWWMC, and this new one was up at the Salmon Creek one. We get there at the same time and her brother and sister-in-law are already there in the waiting room. Mom gets a room, is given a swab of her cervix to check and see if her water actually broke and then is strapped to the monitors. After getting all her vitals, medical history and the rest of that stuff, the results are in. Mom's water did not break but she's having regular contractions about 2-4 minutes apart. They decided to check her. Only 1cm, 70% effaced and baby it -3 station, which means way up there still. They tell her to walk the halls for an hour and come back for another check, if there is no progress, she'll get to go home. During this time, nine more members of her family show up, making that a total of 14 people out walking the halls with her including dad and I. We get back to the room, she's checked again, no progress. They monitor her about 20 more minutes and tell her to go home. Mom is frustrated, and I think a little embarassed, but I'm actually very greatful since I'm so exhausted. I get home around 10:30 and go right to bed. I'm still not fully rested but at least if I'm called in tonight I'll be able to think more clearly.

So, as to my first statement, I don't see how anyone in the medical field can function working such long hours. I love what I do and I can understand the adrenaline rush you get from the excitement that helps keep you awake but still, that rush doesn't last long and the brain stops functioning properly. Okay I'm babbling now so off to bed I go. Wow, this was longer than I thought. Kudos to you if you stuck to reading this.

Just a few things

It's been a busy past few weeks. This will be a huge post if I give all the details so I'll just summarize.

We finally got my parents (and grandparents) moved into their new home. It was a long, slow, and tiring process but it's finally done. We've ALL been enjoying it out there; bbq's, baseball, sprinklers, lawn mowing, especially the lawn mowing! It's the first time my parents have ever had any land (and a brand new home) so it's been lots of fun.

Aiden and Olivia tired from moving.

Playing in the water. BBQing old school style. We don't need no stinkin propane!

Birthday dinner for Gramma.

Fun on the mower.

Even 90 year old Great-gramma took a turn!

On July 2nd, we came home from swimming at a friends house to find my sister and her family parked in our driveway. What a fabulous surprise!!! They had driven all the way from North Carolina, with a few stops in between. We had so much fun play the wii, PS3, 4th of July, Kids club, trampoline, more sprinklers. Thanks guys for coming to see us!!

Aiden, cousin Anya, Olivia. Bryson with cousin Kennedy.

Anya, Kennedy, Olivia, Riley and Bryson all playing around.

Waiting for the fieworks to start and the stash, all $230 worth.

Uncle Bryce and Papa goofing off.


Pooped!

Gosh, that doesn't seem like much but when it's sandwiched in between our everyday activities, it was actually really busy. The only two things set in stone for the rest of the summer is that 1) I'm on call for a client who is due to have her baby any day now and 2) we'll be going camping next month. Oh, and I can't forget our trip to Texas in October, yay!

Medford visit Part 2

We left Moday after Doug got home from work and got down to Medford around 1:30am. After getting a quick tour of the house, Nat had gotten there earlier in the day, and having picked out our rooms, we settled in for the night (morning). Shannon and Olivia were up at about 7:30, which is a little early for them, so I climb out of bed and find Natalie awake as well. I had mentioned to her that "I could swear I heard the sound of little feet running around last night." She said that was because Aiden had woken up and was crying so she took care of him. Thank you Nat. Because of where our room was located in the house, we couldn't hear anything in the main part of it.

Okay, on with the day. After a quick internet search of what there was to do around Medford, we decided to go to a museum for the kids. When we got there, it was closed for renovations. Great, plan B. We remembered seeing an ad for a miniature golf/arcade place online and went to a gas station to look up where it might be. We end up driving to this hole in the wall of a place that has a slick track (no golfing) and arcades. We decide to give it a try. Shannon was just tall enough to drive a car by herself but Bryson had to ride with Dad. Aiden, Olivia and I just watched and they weren't too happy about that. Shannon had this look of fear the whole time. I couldn't really get a good picture of it but I thought it was so funny.

We played a little arcade then went to a park we saw down the street and played a while there.

That night we had pizza and played cards. After the kids went to bed, the three adults got into the hot tub and had a great visit. Natalie also works for UPS so there were quite a few stories exchanged.

Wednesday was checkout day so we packed our things and cleaned up. We went to another park to kill some time before our tour of the Harry and David factory. If you're ever in Medford, I recommend going on the tour, it was "very nice."

After our tour and some shopping, mmmmm chocolate covered cherries, we headed over to the local TacoBell for lunch and then time to say goodbye.

It was a short but fun trip. Thanks Natalie for meeting us halfway!

Medford visit

Last week we drove down to Medford to meet up with a dear friend of mine, Natalie and her two boys. We hadn't seen each other in 13 years so it was a great reunion (she lives in Alaska so it was a real treat to have her visit down this way). While we were there, we rented a vacation home. It was so much fun.

(sorry it's a bit crooked, I was in a moving car)

our room on the left and our bathroom

Bry & Aiden's room (left) Shan & Liv's room (right)

Each room had their own bathroom.

Standing at the front door.

Kitchen and TV room.

I'll post more of our Medford trip later.