Why I don't blog anymore?

I feel like I have to blog with pictures but don't take many pictures anymore, well only on my phone and then they usually go to instagram if I am feelin it.
So here is an update

Ben, he stopped drinking caffeine and is working out more, playing basketball 2-3 times a week and will come to the gym with me at night sometimes. He warms up by running a mile in 7-8 min and then lifting for 20-30 min. Work is work, he is already putting in his vacation days for 2014, including the CRAZY 15 year anniversary trip just Ben and I.......woot woot!!!! Can't wait!

Andrea
Back to real full time work, the first time in 7+ years. It was a busy month, I had some really easy trips that made it bearable though.
Started a neighborhood biggest loser competition that goes until Memorial day, so far so good, lets hope I can keep some momentum and make some permanent changes.

Alivia 
She is doing well in school and is excited to be 11. She decided for her 11th birthday she would read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover so she can have read it before she starts YW next year.
Her tortoise Iggy isn't doing that well, she has been sick and so we have been nursing her back to health and keeping a close eye on her. She seems to be doing better than a few days ago. It was pretty sad, Ben was a little too honest with her and told her that she may/most likely die and Alivia burst into tears. Hopefully our little Iggy will pull through.

Cooper
He is doing really good in school, he has an amazing teacher. He still has major trouble going to sleep and eating regularly, he has lost much of his appetite and so he has stayed the same weight for over a year now.
We have started him on a higher protein diet to try and help him gain some weight and keep him strong.
He is still my crazy imaginative boy, has the weirdest memory and recall the craziest things from vacations/boating trips, it blows my mind!

Bauer 
He still is my sporty dude. He is my best sleeper, my little morning guy. Tender hearted and loving, he is so happy for his teacher at school she was able to adopt a baby and he is excited to go to Target and get her and her baby something. He is ready to go fishing and talks about going to Flaming Gorge and catching some big fish this year.

Kessler
He is momma's boy through and through. Lately he has a weird fear of being the first person in line at school. He doesn't like waiting by him self for the few minutes until other kids come, so the kids have took him under their wing and wait with him till his friends get there.

Some sad news a good friend/neighbor of mine is moving. I am so sad, she isn't going far, but she is one person I can always count on, we can count on each other.... she needs powdered sugar and I need eggs she is my go to, we have the best talks on our summer time walks, we walk down to the frozen yogurt shop and walk back. I am going to miss her being right next door...........

Mega post

Lets start a way back and update Ben's handicap.

He had been putting in 12-14-16 hour days and everyday his leg was getting worse. After about 2 weeks of soreness and then 5 days of hot, red, tender, can barely walk I convinced him into going to the doctor. We show up, they weren't too worried a sore leg, yeah yeah. She said she didn't think she should x-ray it, but I said would it hurt we are here. So she decided to xray his leg.

Everyone was shocked, even Ben. They had 3 doctors come in and look at the x ray and all decided he needed to go into a boot and get over to a orthopedist asap. So we made an appt. at TOSH and long, long story short. Another set of x rays and they didn't think the pain was coming from the break. All the pain he was having was muscular. He did show signs of stress from the rod, hollowing where the screws are, and eventually he will have to get them out.

Today he is wearing a compression stocking and got a new pair of fancy shoes.

He also decided to go off caffeine, he is now drinking chocolate milk, orange juice, sprite and some crush soda's. Ben has already lost 10lbs!! (in 5-6 days)

I was cleaning up all of my pictures on my phone and on my computer and put all of these pics together (although I did duplicate one) Love that little Addi girl, she cracks me up.

 A nice Christmas concert for Alivia and Cooper's choir. 2nd semester choir started yesterday!!

My little lunch date, and you can tell he liked his black beans.

Kessler is doing really well, he recently was sick with the pukies and a fever. It ALWAYS happens when I am at work?? it was nice to sit all day and snuggle with the poor little guy.

Miss Alivia got her Birthday wish a week or so early. She has wanted a turtle for quite some time, I didn't want a water turtle so I was opposed to the whole idea. She had been looking on KSL for weeks and did a lot of research about tortoises. She made up her mind she wanted either a Leopard, Sulcata or Russian tortoise. We ended up finding a Sulcata for 50% off and ended up getting it for her Golden birthday, she turns 11 on the 11th.

This picture below is a 5 year old Sulcata tortoise, I am not sure what we will do when the tortoise is that big??

 A few random selfies 

 a church selfie

 New years eve selfie, Ben trying to crush, candy crush!

I am kind of bummed that I didn't work New Years I know that sounds crazy  but it all started in 1999, I got stuck in Jackson Hole for New Years because SLC was fogged in and since then it has kind of been a tradition to work, I am not a big party animal anyway. Unless it involves ROOK!

There was a trip I wanted to pick up that I could have taken the kids with me, I still regret not doing it. Next year I will plan ahead!!

Ben annoyed (he really wasn't annoyed, more so that I was taking pictures) I loved watching Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin.....it was hysterical actually!

Kessler trying hard to stay awake!

 Another church selfie with my sweet baby girl!

 Ben got a few gift cards this year for some sporting good stores and so we were browsing on some things he wants to add to the boat. Kessler and I took a ride on the ferris wheel while he was browsing!

 January means annual safety training for Andrea and my friend Deb!

In 8 hours we had to

save a passenger having a heart attack with the AED and doing chest compression's and rescue breaths

4 pilot/flight attendant scenarios

passenger in the bathroom upon landing

landing gear failure

flaps failure

drunk passenger

We then sat through a smoke filled cabin, that always freaks me out!

We then did all of our drills

Door operation

Fire fighting

Prepared a cabin for a water landing

Evacuated an airplane on the water (mine was sinking) ahhhh:/

We then had another round of scenarios

Emotional support animal

deaf passenger

prisoner 

Unaccompanied minors

E-cigarettes

Infant on the wrong side

Airplane Preflights

Hyperventilation

Overall SO,SO glad to have that over with!!

Christmas week

Love finding random photos. 

Annual gingerbread (graham cracker) houses. We got to FaceTime with bens family in Canada last night, sad we can't be up there.  We will carry on the tradition here in Utah again. 

Previous gingerbread house nights....
here, and here 
Something I loved this week, here and here.

Plans for this week.

Relax

Movie

Relax

Cousins

Relax

Black Friday Week

So much to be thankful for...a few of the things I am thankful for. Bauer hit his head at school and luckily didn't need stitches. Just a butterfly bandage from the nice school office staff. Thankful for the nicest school staff around.

Kessler telling me we haven't taken a picture In a while. Thankful my kids like to be with me and feel like

they can talk to me .

Flying the friendly skies, thankful for a good job.

Thankful to spend time with my family, it has been a rocky road for some on my mom's side of the family. Thankful that I learned the lessons that I learned when I was younger, that I don't have to learn them today.

Diamond Debacle 2013 it started with Cooper watching tv and holding a fake diamond, not paying attention puts it in his ear, still in a tv trans and then realizes he can't get it out. He then tries to get it out with a skinny black thing, I don't really know what it was. I walked past and he had the black thing in his ear I didn't think much of it, and a few hours passed. Alivia then came and told me that Cooper has something in his ear, so I walked into the family room he still has the black thing in his ear and I look with a flashlight and I see a shiny diamond looking thing.

LONG story short, we tried everything to get it out, ear numbing drops (when kids have ear infections) irrigating it, even the vacuum, tweezers, you name it we tried it. 

The next day went to the doctor, the pediatrician tried and couldn't get it out, too close to his ear drum and didn't want to puncture his ear from the shape of the diamond.

Meanwhile Cooper is NOT cooperating and that is where this little picture below comes from. I could barely compose myself. He was freaking out, I think the last time at the office, they accidentally pushed it farther down. So it was then off the ENT. Went back to see the doctor and by this time, Cooper was hysterical, like I have never seen. We just tried to explain we were just going to look, he would let us look and then start freaking out like we were going to kill him. At one point he grabbed the doctors hands and scratched him.......OH MY GOSH!!!!! I wanted to die!!!

Basically if he would have cooperated he may have been able to get it out, YES it would have been uncomfortable and painful but the alternative was CRAZY!!

Well as you can see, we had to do the alternative, take him to IMC at 1115am. Wait for 2 hours and 15 min to get back into the OR, they gave him some versed to calm him down, finally some anxiety relief for Cooper. It was a fast 20 min procedure, they gave is some "gas laugh" is what he calling it. No IV, or breathing tube THANK GOODNESS!!! Recovery for 20 min and then another 40 min recovery with me sitting next to him.

He wanted to see the diamond in his ear, I tried to take a picture by then it was too deep.

Convincing me that he just wanted to go home and that the diamond would fall out!! If it were that easy???

All said and done, it was the safest and best thing to do to get the diamond out was giving him something to 

relax. Against my better judgment I agree now, maybe not then. When I was talking to the doctor he asked me if I was ok holding him down and trying to get it out, and I was ok then, but looking back now I should have spared myself and Cooper all the trauma, pain, anxiety, anger, frustration and just slowed down and thought what was best . I just wanted to do what was the easiest and cheapest. 

My crazy boys are pretty good at their chores, clean their room, unload and load the dishwasher, sweep and mop floors, clean bathrooms, dust, vacuum. One day when I was helping them clean their room  we made it spotless......it was beautiful, it was pristine, it was heavenly, it was what ever mother wants a clean kids room. I came back from work the next morning (seriously 12 hours later and 10 of them they were sleeping) and walked past their room and saw this chaos!!! I actually had this moment where I thought maybe I had dreamed the clean room and had to stop and really think about if we did clean their room the day before.

As mad as I wanted to be, I was thankful, I know my life won't always be like this, I don't ever want to wish the days away, even the crazy rooms, diamond debacles. They are all good memories for me. I need to stay more aware and keep trying to make good memories for them too!

Thanksgiving was Fab!! I like my version of Thanksgiving way better than the version I remember growing up. Growing up it was stressful, everything had to be PERFECT, the cranberry salad with chopped pecans, the potatoes and gravy, the rolls, the turkey, the table setting all had to be perfect nothing could be done out of order. I get that my Mom was just trying to hard and had a lot of guilt working as much as she did, so she wanted to do something special for us. But what we/I really needed was a happy, calm, fun mom to be around.

I have made that my mission with holidays. 

We had Ham (from Costco) {not a turkey fan}

Funeral potatoes

A vegetable and fruit tray (Costco)

Jello salad

Pumpkin Pie (Costco)

Rolls

Lemon pie (Kneaders) not that good actually

Sparkling grape juice

It was such a nice day, we played and laughed and I only prepared in the kitchen for about an hour. I will admit I am not the best cook, lack the "training" and the desire {truly}. What I want to remember is not the food, but the feeling of the day, I don't want my kids feeling like they are walking on eggshells while I am trying to create this perfect day......I will admit though I missed the mash potatoes and gravy, but I will make them another day and be just as thankful for them that day too!

Grey Thursday and Black Friday!

I had a great time spending some time with some good friends of mine. I got to hang out with my Jamie's.

We met at Sandy Target, stood in line, laughed, teased people standing by us, had a great time. I am so thankful for friends who love me for me. Put effort forth to be my friend. I am truly thankful!!

Scored some major deals that I was planning on, and scored some deals that I wasn't necessarily planning on:) 

Ben and his team rocked it, his store looked great everything went perfect, no one got got trampled (uh hem Walmart) When we were rounding the corner into the store we saw Ben standing there I gave him this awesome high five, he had the cutest smile on his face that is forever engraved in my heart!!!

So thankful for my blessings this year, and blessings to come. So thankful to serve the Lord as a mother and in YW, I sometimes I fall short but my desire is deep and I am thankful for the opportunity. I am thankful to be able to write down the messages that are sent just for me, since I started doing it I have realized that most are them are very private and so I write most of them elsewhere.

So much to be thankful for!! I never ever want to take for granted for my many blessings!

Thanksgiving Update

There has been so much going on, that I haven't had a lot of time to think let alone sit down and blog, my intentions are always so much greater than my actions in many area's of my life.

a quick list of happenings around here lately

Cooper got a fake diamond stuck in his ear
Ben and I cracking up at him smacking the side of his head so he didn't have to go to the doctor
The gate was left open on the side of the house and you can guess who took off, but the first time ever he came back by himself (true tender mercy) I think I would have had a mental break down if we wouldn't have been able to find him.
Christmas is up and it is very festive at our house.
Having a Thanksgiving feast Whidden style, low key, non-stressful, relaxed, no expectations just enjoying the day!
Excited to get some Christmas shopping done. Actually I would rather take the kids somewhere than buy presents this year, maybe next Christmas:)
SkyWest is changing the part time rules ONCE again, life should get interesting in January for all of us Flight Attendants.

Switzerland

I was working the other night and I was just finishing the beverage service and saw this young women crying and so what I usually do is just grab some tissues out of the bathroom and hand them to person. So I grabbed my tissues walked back up to her, handed her the tissues and asked her if everything was ok, which I don't normally do, she said no I am not ok and I really need a neutral party to talk to.......can you stay and talk to me for a minute she asked. I told her I would be right back I needed to help the other flight attendant get the cart back up to the galley.
When I got back to her, I commented I was her Switzerland and to lay it on me. She gave me a long story about her and her boyfriend, together for 5 years, they were only 22, he asked her to marry her a year ago and wants to set a date now for this upcoming year. She then told me how she really doesn't want to marry him, she loves him but doesn't want to get married and that she felt trapped.
I was stunned, I wasn't expecting that, i'm not sure what I was expecting but not that. We had a really good talk about marriage and what her version of a good marriage was and my version of a good marriage. It reaffirmed my testimony of an Eternal Marriage~

I don't know what she will do, I do know it left me very thankful for the person I married. I know all of us married to amazing people, I appreciate all the great examples of good marriages that I have seen. I am also thankful for some of the bad marriages that I have seen, to learn and grow from.

Ben and I are so opposite in many ways, but what I didn't know when I married him, is how a like we are in so many ways as well. He is an amazing person, and I don't know if anyone will ever see the Ben I see or will take the time to see. He is a natural leader, has a tender heart and of course an amazing father. I am so thankful for his help and support. He is my organizer, my even keel thought processor, sleeps through my restless legs, laughs when I show him a video of him sleeping, we were running some errands the other day and talked about all the places we wanted to go to and the ones we didn't, I was truly shocked that we were thinking so similar, the only one we didn't agree, he said he doesn't have the desire to go to Japan and I think Japan would be worth the trip. Oh WELL girls trip!!! :)

So blessed we get to do what we love together! Right now that is trying to be good parents!

Ps. We started a YouTube channel to put all of our family videos on, some are too big to load on Facebook or Blogger. If you want to take I peek, I will let you know when we have it up and running!

Thankful to get my trash kicked!!

I have lacked motivation lately, which fall usually is a perfect time to get out an exercise. I don't want to give any excuses but I did start a new medicine for my lady parts that has made me feel....blahhh!! However it was only a 2 week trial and I have been off it for a few days and I am getting back to my own self!! SO, I pushed away my lack of motivation last night and went down to this new exercise group (they are offering a few free classes) to jump start my motivation again, I went to a rowing class last night.....and loved IT!! Then to keep my 1 day streak going I went to a spin class today and got my trash kicked!! I thought I was going to die! no really, about  10 minutes into the workout I was getting sick and kind of dizzy so I had to slow down a lot (this class was 55 min long, how was I going to make another 45 min?) I was afraid/embarrassed I wouldn't make it, I thought I few times I should get down and just get off and so I stopped for about 1 min and just sat there but didn't get down and had this thought come to mind...{just peddle, you can peddle}I started peddling again and finally got a hold of myself, after the instructor asked if I was ok....I just kept peddling even though she was saying to increase the resistance I just kept peddling, when she said stand, I could stand and peddle...we she said peddle fast I peddled a little bit faster. I realized today once again,      I can do hard things. 

This is the lyrics to one of my most recent fav songs

It's called Honey, by Mindy Gledhill

When you're blue, buried deep
60,000 leagues under the bottom of the sea
I will swim to you to set you free
I will swim to you to set you free

Honey, when you feel worn out
When the mirror lies and turns on you
When the choruses of doubt are singing way too loud
Honey, I will chase them down
Honey, that's what love's about
Well, your world once revolved
A thousand miles per hour, now you watch it as it falls
And fizzles at a slow dissolve
Fizzles at a slow dissolve

And I hope you know you are
More beautiful than you dream you are
And maybe all things must pass
But now you're still wading through the ash
While the fire lasts

Honey, when you feel worn out
When the mirror lies and turns on you
When the choruses of doubt are singing way too loud
Honey, I will chase them down
Honey, that's what love's about