John Rex had a birthday!!!

Oh, how I love this boy that I now get to call mine!!! He is a fabulous person! And a thrill to have as a Son-In-Law! He is willing to work hard to get through school and provide for his family! He is good at what he is majoring in, and is already working as a athletic trainer at the MTC and he will be graduating this next April! He worked with the BYU football team before for one of his classes in his Major, and as a Senior many people in his major wanted to work with the BYU football team, but only so many can, and he was chosen to come back and work with the team, so Starting August 2, he has been busy every day with football camp! He loves his wife, and it shows!! And as Carrie Underwood song goes....."he treats her like a real man should". He is compassionate and loves Aileen and Anne Marie like his sisters. And even though we all know I'm a little crazy, he respects Alan and I as parents and really is just able to go with the flow, roll with the punches, and have a great time no matter the circumstances i.e. a million bees in my home!!!

Really, there is hardly anything you can't love about this Man, except that he is not a Mavericks fan, but we are working on that!! Dad & I Love you John, and I'm so glad you had a great birthday!!!

July's almost gone.....

I didn't get all my July decorations out, but I did get enough out to feel festive!!!

I put this Quilt square all together by hand while I was in the hospital trying not to have Anne Marie prematurely!! Later made it into a door wreath. Lots of memories with this decoration!

I really like my Uncle Sam I made in Wichita, Ks

Hope everyone had a patriotic and happy July!!

I'm humbled, amazed, and very grateful!

Today seemed to be a normal Sunday where church callings and keeping the Sabbath Day holy are the priority of the day. The only thing that has made the day a little sad is that Alan is still very sick and getting frustrated that he is not feeling better sooner!!

Today is also Pioneer Day, which is a church holiday that celebrates and remembers the sacrifices, faith and determination to get to a place that we could worship as our hearts dictated, made possible by our forefathers. Our Sacrament meeting was a really beautiful celebration of our pioneers and the musical numbers really helped everyone feel the spirit and feel our Saviors love.

But tonight the most amazing, humbling thing happened. Late tonight I heard the doorbell ring and we were surprised because we were not expecting anyone, especially this late at night. I cautiously opened the door to find an envelope stuck to our door. I looked around and no one was there. I took the envelope into Alan and we opened it and were so stunned at what we saw. Someone knowing Alan has been unemployed left an envelope with money on our door. Unbelievable!! Who could afford to do such a thing? But your gift is a gift of love and we are so appreciative to whom ever you are! We have given thanks to our Heavenly Father for someone who would be so kind! I pray that you will receive many blessings for your kindness!!

Thank you! I feel my Saviors love through you! Thank you! So humbled to be a better person!

Poor Daddy!

I'll tell you what, my Dad has had a rough year.....starting with his heart attack last March or April!! the latest of a list of things to trouble him is Kidney Stones! Which shouldn't have been as horrible as it was, except, there was blockage going on, infections, one infection that was hiding until they tried to go in and break up the kidney stones, so then couldn't......putting him on antibiotics that haven't cleared up the infection and now he has two different kinds of infections.....so then surgery still has to be put off......crazy wild, how ridiculous this has been. Then to top it all off, he slipped and fell in the shower and dislocated his finger and had to go to the Emergency Room because they thought for sure it was broken, but miracle of miracles it wasn't! But WARNING the PICTURES ARE NOT PRETTY!!!

One is of the x-ray's the other is the actual hand!!! It made me sick to think about how it must have felt!!!

Poor Daddy!

Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me!

One of my favorite primary hymns ends with that statement and it is the perfect title for this post. Someone said to me "Boy you are having a hard month, aren't you?" and the answer would be absolutely yes!!! But through it all I have seen the workings and miracles of a Heavenly Father's love for me and my family!

First, to start off the month, my husband lost his job! Not fun, but seems now it is for the best and we know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and for Alan in particular!

My oldest, Anne Marie found out that she had blood clots in her lungs and was admitted into the hospital urgently trying to get that under control and not die from it!!! And she is in Utah and I am here! I was going to try and fly out, but couldn't really go because my boss was leaving on vacation out of the Country, and I was to tend the office.....So blessed that my mother-in-law and her husband Jay were able to be with Anne Marie through this whole ordeal, and that Anne Marie said that the scare was over and that she didn't feel like it was urgent that I be there, and she would rather I came when we could do something fun instead of be in the hospital. Such an angel and I know also that she worried about the expense for us too. I love my children and would do anything for them. But Heavenly Father blessed me with extended family that were right there for Anne Marie, and blessed me with a daughter that would think of others at a time like this and would want to ease my stress as a mother for not being able to be there! She is home now and doing well.

Then Alan ended up in the Emergency Room with diverticulitis, and was in so much pain I can hardly stand it, let alone him! Found out our insurance did not have a 30 day leeway until terminated and we haven't gotten the Cobra information yet!!! It was a great blessing that they were able to get the pain under control and he could go home instead of an overnight stay in the hospital, or worse, if we wouldn't have caught it as soon as we did, it could have ruptured and then it would have meant surgery!!! Such miracles and blessing.

Our Home Teacher came right up and gave Alan a blessing! I love our Home Teachers!

Then our air conditioning has not been working......inside the house the thermostat reads 98 degrees! I know its hot hot hot and brutally hot outside, record breaking hot, but obviously something is not right if the inside is that hot. But the blessing is we were able through friends to find a good reliable company, that came right away, and the day the repair man came another work reimbursement check came for Alan in the mail from his old job that covered the exact cost of the repair!! Tithing! I can't say it enough! You really can't afford not to pay it!

And even though we just found out that we have an obstacle in our way of Alan getting Unemployment benefits, I know that however it turns out Heavenly Father is aware, that he cares very much for what happens to us and that we will be blessed one way or another!!!

How could I not know that, when I know my Heavenly Father loves me and my family!!!

Harry Potter goes Visiting Teaching.....

My Visiting Teaching partner, MaryAnn Stephens, was out of town a lot in June so we were not able to celebrate my birthday! I wasn't worried about it, but cute enough, MaryAnn was!!! So Friday, she picked me up with a Harry Potter Balloon, saying "Happy Birthday" when I answered the door and then gave me HP glasses to wear!!! She had them on and had another pair for the friend that we were going to V.T., Becky Wangler! When we first got to Becky's house she said, "No Way am I wearing those glasses!" but soon got into the spirit of the day and did!

First we went to lunch at Johnny Corinos, a restaurant that I had never been to before, and I will say was very good!!!

Then it was off to the final movie of Harry Potter!! I thought it was great was a great way to end. It was nice to be there Opening Day and so much fun to be with these two great friends!

Thanks MaryAnn for a great Bday gift and another fun day of Visiting Teaching!!!

Jelly watches and a gift from England

So, I still don't have a camera and it is hit and miss with my cell phone camera......but I just keep a trying!!! I start out with this disclaimer because I have an infatuation with jelly watches!!! And I took pictures of them all, but it didn't really show them to their best advantage, but I think you will get the idea!! I started out with a lime green one! Everyone commented on it so much, that I then bought my girls jelly watches. Then even more people commented after that so I have started giving them to family as gifts for birthday's, mother's days, etc... The funny thing is that now I have to buy one for myself whenever I am buying one for others! Hence, I now have quite a collection! The lime green, a black one with a zebra print face, then came the white one with daisy's on the face, then the orange one, the red one with red polka dots on the face, and the camouflage one which is my new favorite!!! I've decided what my fascination is.....because I have to wear scrubs everyday.....it is too fun to be playful with the watches and then not have to worry because they are inexpensive! But I always get comments from patients on them!

The Doctor I work for and his wife just got back from a 2 week trip to England, Scotland, and Ireland. And look what they brought me back!!! I was very much into the Royal Wedding of Prince William so when I opened it up and this is what I saw....I had the biggest smile and laughed and thought it was perfect!!! Thanks Doctor!!

July 4th weekend!!!

My 4th of July weekend started by going to a movie and ended by going to a movie, and anyone who knows me that is the perfect holiday weekend!!!

Friday afternoon after I got off work, Ashley Myers and I went to see the new Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts movie, "Larry Crowne". I really enjoyed it! but loved getting to catch up with Ashley for a little bit!! I sure miss having her in our Ward at church!!! But happy she is not too far away that we can't still get together and do things!! yay!

Saturday was a lazy day, but really good to get things done around the house! Loved it!

Sunday, was of course, church, and my Gospel Doctrine lesson. It seemed different this time. The lesson didn't have a lot a scripture, just a lot of quotes, but the scriptures and quotes we did study were awesome!!!

Then Sunday afternoon my sister Elizabeth came to Fort Worth and we went to go see my Dad who is not getting better as expected from the kidney stones, but getting worse!!! We visited and could tell he was not doing well, but I also aggravated him with all my questions as to why his doctor wasn't doing more......ooops! Sorry Dad! Today (Tuesday) he is back in the emergency room and they do have him scheduled for surgery tomorrow! Thank goodness!

After visiting my dad, Elizabeth stayed for a while at my house and Alan, Elizabeth and I all played cards!! Alan beat us all.....it was sad for us but awesome for him!!! he was on a role!

Monday, the 4th of July we went out to lunch to Chili's which Aileen enjoyed very much and then we took Aileen to "Cars 2"!!! She loved it and after the afternoon we had she went home and went to bed, for the night! That was a surprise, but happy she had a good time and then was able to sleep and be ready to go to her Day Care this morning!

But the best thing I love is that John and Allison picked up Anne Marie and they spent the holiday weekend together!!! I love when I find out things like that! Nothing makes a parent happier then to find out that their children like to do things together!

Good weekend!

Happy July to us.....

July 1st my husband was unemployed!!! Yes, laid off. Our Economy is so hard right now! So many of the things we had planned this summer are now on hold! But I do know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and we will be o.k. New Horizons changed Fort Worth's base of operation (Alan's office) to Dallas, so for the past month he had been having to drive to Dallas every day and back which adds 2 hrs to the work day, and because his area was still Ft. Worth, he had to drive back and forth during the work day as well to meet with clients or go to work force centers.....so the gas was killing us! One blessing I have seen from this so far is that I am grateful they waited until July 1st because then we were able to get through Anne Marie's hospital crisis and Allison and John being her for a visit before we had to worry about or tell anyone about this....

We will be fine, but prayers would be appreciated!!! And I can't wait to see what adventure this next phase of our life will bring!!! And any Company would be lucky to get Alan!!!