Still here!

Yes, I am still alive and kickin'! We have been so busy!!! I am keeping busy with my little scrapbooking business and trying to keep up with my kiddos!

We went to the cabin last weekend. We had a lot of fun. It was a ranch workday, so the men in the family were assigned to clean out the area by the spring. I thought it looked a bit overwhelming when we got there. Thomas assumed the assignment meant the tiny area actually surrounding the spring. I was right, it was the HUGE fenced-in area. The boys got a chainsaw and set to work. It looked great when they finished almost four hours later! We were warned before we went up to the cabin that ranch workday had also turned into a mini-cabin workday and that there may be a few people in and out to do some light cleaning... well, it actually turned into a pretty invasive cleaning day, so Chrissy and I ended up taking the kids out for a nature walk so they didn't get in the way or fall down the stairs. It was freezing cold and the grass and everything outside was wet, so that lasted all of an hour and a half, so we loaded the kids into the car and drove down to Oakley and spent a few minutes at the "grocery store" there. It's really a small little general store with mostly groceries. They carry Western Family brand and it's actually pretty affordable. I really like Ken's Kash! :) It's cute and the people that work there are so helpful and friendly! The way customer service should be! And the cashier told me that my kids were cute, so that always helps! We headed back up the canyon when we saw Thomas' aunt at the grocery store and she said they were done at the cabin. We had some cleaning assignments at the cabin when we got back. Uncle Tommy decided to build a big campfire and we all roasted marshmallows. Hannah loved roasting marshmallows. Crazy Aunt Meredith forgot the candy bars and the graham crackers, so I crushed up some Golden Grahams and dipped my marshmallows in them... no one else seemed to want them. The ones that stuck were really good. We got up Sunday morning and had a big breakfast. Hannah was so excited because we brought bacon up to the cabin so she ate 6 big strips of bacon all by herself AND some hashbrowns. We decided to hang out for a bit, then clean and go on a nature walk and then just leave after our walk... Well, Thomas took the girls to the other end of the cabin and I started cleaning. I planned to do a really deep cleaning in the kitchen and bathroom. I got the bathroom done in about an hour and then started on the basic cleaning that has to be done before everyone leaves... I very quickly enlisted Thomas' help! FOUR HOURS LATER we finished. We decided that we are no longer going to be the last people at the cabin. Sorry cabin buddies. No more. I can't handle it. It shouldn't take any longer than an hour or two AT THE MOST. And I didn't even get a chance to deep clean the kitchen. I just did a basic kitchen cleaning. We didn't even get to go on our nature walk. We finally left and thankfully the garbage dump was open. It usually isn't open on Sundays. So I didn't have to ride down with the garbage on my lap for long. We got home and spent the rest of the day doing laundry... not sure if it is worth all the work involved for a weekend. Good thing I have a short memory so that by the time our turn rolls around again I will have forgotten how frustrated I get up there. And it's really too bad because it is so much fun up there! Oh well, enough complaining!

So, we leave on Saturday to head down to Vegas. Thanks Ber & Jeffery for helping me find an amazing hotel deal! Then on Sunday morning we are heading down to the desert in California for a week. It will be nice to get away and just enjoy our family for a while. But we are staying some little villas so I am sure that it will end up being more of the same old junk... cooking and cleaning the entire time. And I enjoy cooking and cleaning, just not so much of it! I can clean my house in the morning and with the exception of a few toys, it stays clean. My kids don't eat outside the kitchen and they only eat when I tell them they can. They don't get lots of snacks and they have to eat them at the table. Drinks are only allowed in the kitchen. Bottles are only allowed in bed. So, I shouldn't have a ton of maintenance cleaning throughout the day. Oh well. We'll see how it goes. I am excited to go sit outside in the warm weather! It has been so freaking cold here!!! It's only 59 degrees here today! Okay, it's summer now... can we have some warm weather? I am just trying to enjoy not having to run my swamp cooler and window units! At least it will save me some $$. trying to stay positive! although i think that having to run the heat at night might cost me about the same! :)

After we get back from California, we leave the following week to go to Chicago for a few days to see my family. I am so excited! I haven't seen my dad in almost a year! I haven't seen my brother & his wife & daughter OR my sister & her husband and daughter in that long either. I really miss them! The babies won't even remember me. I haven't seen Zoey in two months. She probably won't even remember me!

And then after that, we head back up to the cabin for the 4th of July. We were going to do a big barbeque up there, but I don't think we'll be doing that. I won't have the time to do the planning and shopping and cooking for everyone. We'll probably just grill hamburgers. And we may not even go. It just depends on how the trip to CA goes and what everyone else is doing. I am just grateful to be in Utah with my whole little family together this year! Love you, babe!

So, something disturbing I heard on the news this morning. I love me some Fox News! Anyway... 1 in 5 people have medical debt. That's scary! I know we do! And it is going to take us forever to pay it off! A normal healthy delivery cost us over $13000. And I am still debating some of those bills over a year later! My insurance company that we don't even have coverage through anymore just barely agreed to pay my OB bills... she was preferred provider and they were saying that she wasn't on their provider list. What a nightmare. One of the experts this morning was saying that you don't have to sign the financial agreement papers. If you NEED medical care, the hospital can't turn you away if you don't sign the papers. Now, if you were having elective surgery or it was non-lifethreatening, they can turn you away. I just pray that we all stay healthy for the next month and a half until our new insurance kicks in! I think Ainsley may have a sinus infection and I am hesitant to take her in unless she starts running a fever. They won't give me antibiotics unless she is running a fever. I don't want to pay $165 for them to tell me that she has a cold. I really wish that one of my brothers-in-law would hurry up and finish medical school and start diagnosing my kids! Get on that, boys!

And now I have rambled enough to make up for the last two weeks of not posting much. :) Are ya sorry you asked what I've been up to?