Thinking....

So I have an "Uncle" ok technically he isn't my uncle but that is what I have called him my whole life. He is my dad's first cousin Keith McDermott ( my nephew Keith is named after him) any way Keith lives in California with his wife Florence and thier 4 kids Brian 25, Scott 23, Adam 22 and Luke 16 (yes named after my Dad). Growing up we would usually see them at least once a year or sometimes if we were lucky even twice a year. Even though we lived far away from each other we were still extremely close. Bethanie and I became Keith and Florence's "adopted" daughters. Florence always wanted a girl, so when they would come and visit she would always want to go shopping with us and look at girl stuff. My Uncle Keith was and still is very protective of Bethanie and I. Thier sons became like my 2nd brothers. They are just good people and you can't help but love them.

My Uncle Keith has survived bypass surgery, cancer and a broken neck. He is a survivor. About a month ago, he started acting very strange and my Aunt Florence didn't know what was wrong with him, she thought he was possibly going through a depression, it was getting so bad, that she had his brother Doug fly in and help her take him to the Dr. The news was not good. They had found two tumors growing on the back of his spine and neck area, they weren't sure if they were cancerous or what so for the past two weeks they have been running tests. Yesterday we got our answer and it was not a good one. The tumors are malignant, they cannot do surgery to remove them. His only options are chemo and radiation to prolong his life. He is 49 years old.

This makes me think and wonder why things happen the way that they do. It makes me wish I could drop everything and fly to California right now and see him one last time. It makes me think that I wish the last time I talked to him I would have paid more attention to what he was saying. He drove all the way to my wedding from California, and I have a picture of him and me in front of the Temple. I always said I wanted to send him a copy of that picture and I never did. I want to get mine framed. Life is so fragile, I am one of those people who thought "That will never happen to me" and something did happen when I lost Easton.

Last Sunday in Relief Society we had a really good lesson about accepting change. I like some change and other change is hard for me. We all know and accept the circle of life. When our grandparents die we are sad, but we know it must be. When someone younger dies that is when it becomes harder to accept. Everyone is always saying " Should have, would have, could have" and then it becomes too late. The saying "Take time to stop and smell the roses" is so true. I am so guilty of using my lack of time as excuses for not doing things I want. My favorite moments are just sitting downstairs on the couch with Ty and Karson with no TV on, and talking and holding our son. Those simple moments make me realize how lucky I am.

Ever since I lost Easton I have a little issue with losing someone close to me again. I always worry about Karson getting kidnapped ( I really do, this is a huge fear of mine) or if Tyler is late coming home from work, I always worry what if he got in a car accident, what if something happened to him. What would I do? People deal with loss every day! People die every day,each one of us are not exempt from this trial of faith. We as a people, we are strong. We learn how to cope the best that we can. It doesn't make it any easier,it doesn't take the pain away forever, but somehow we find a way to deal. I bring this up, because my heart ACHES so much for my Aunt, if it was Tyler and I was told he was dying of brain cancer, how would I pick myself up off the floor again?

In the relief society lesson the teacher read this poem, about if you knew it was the last time you would be with someone, you would ask them to come back for another kiss, you would tell them you love them one more time, you would hold them close. Life is hard, but it is definately worth it. I know I am going to try and not take for granted what I have every day. I know I need to let go of the little things that bother me sometimes and focus more on the bigger picture, because this life here on earth really is so short. A small example of this is if Ty and I have a argument or disagreement, even if I am still upset with him the next morning, I can't NOT say I Love you, before he goes to work, because what if I didn't say it that morning, and that was the last time I saw him? The guilt would live inside me forever, and I don't want to be that person.

We are always trying to better ourselves and for some reason whenever something hard happens, that is the time when we make the decision to be strong and fight. I love my Uncle Keith so much and I wish this wasn't happening to him, but it i, and all I can do is be there for him and his family the best that I can.

I am thankful to know what I know. I didn't mean for this post to be depressing, it is just more of a thinking post!

Love you all and Happy Thanksgiving!

I love books!

So I ran an errand today with my little brother to Barnes & Noble. I love that place. If I could I would spend a whole day there, looking at books, reading books, just taking the whole atmosphere in. I always see different kinds of books and I tell myself that I will read them and I don't. Maybe one day I will get around to that.
Growing up I loved the Little House on the Prarie Books and The Babysitter Club Books. Those books got my imagination running wild, and I always wished I could have my own babysitter club, but that never happened! I thought Mallory, Dawn, Claudia and Mary Ann were so cool, I think I am missing one of the members, oh is it Jessie maybe? I can't believe I remembered all of those names. Any way I loved reading those books. They were so creative, and I envied those girls so much, even though they weren't real.
In Jr. High my mom got me to read The Work and The Glory series, and I LOVE those books. I have read them all twice, and I am thinking I need to start over again soon.
I am a scardy cat when it comes to scary movies, but for some reason I can read intense mystery novels. I Love Mary Higgens Clark and I have read all of her books, some a couple of times. Sometimes I dream about the story line, but I love trying to figure out the mystery, it puts my thinking skills to work.
My brothers once made me read Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, and I ended up reading other books that go along with Edner's Game and I really like those books as well.
I also gave in to the Harry Potter series, and I am glad that I did.
I like Jane Eyre it is sort of a creepy book in it's own right, but I like it, and of course Little Women. (I need that movie)
I know there are so many fabulous books out there that I haven't read yet, I wish I could read them all. I enjoy history books, and fun pointless books too!
Yay for books!

Early Holidays....

So Friday night we put up our Christmas tree! Yes people I know it was a little early, but we don't get Kaili again until December 5, and we will be out of town nextweekend so I wanted it done now, plus Kaili loves to help put it up. So we ate some Papa Murphey's pizza and put up the tree. I was SO tired, because Thursday night Karson woke up about every two hours, because he couldn't breathe he was so stuffy, so he wasn't very happy. Since we bought our couches like last April, we haven' t had a Christmas with them and since our tree is pretty big and so are the couches we had to move out the coffee table and end table, so I have no where to set up a lot of my Chrsitmas decorations. So I feel like this year I hardly have anything up. One day when we have a house it will be nice to have more room to do what I want to do!
Karson is still not feeling well, infact I think it is getting worse! Tomorrow Ty is taking him to the dr in the morning, because he is coughing a lot now and his lungs are sounding thick to me. No good!

Saturday was a very busy day as well. I was able to see Twilight, and I liked it a lot. I already did a little post about it, so I won't go into any detials. Then we watched the BYU/UTAH game, and watched the Cougars lose. It was a sad day for the McDermott boys, but all is well now. Kaili had a blast playing with Keith! They hardly every get to see each other, but they had so much fun all day on Saturday, that on Sunday Kaili was pretty worn out.

These are some pictures I took of Karson a couple of days ago. That outfit is for 9 months! He loves to eat his fingers, he gags himself often, I am just waiting for some teeth to sprout, because it seems like he is teething. It breaks my heart to be away from him when he isn't feeling well!

Yay for Twilight!

So I won't say too much right now incase anyone hasn't see the movie yet, but I went and saw Twilight today at 12:00 with my mom, Katie, Fernanda and Bethanie and I loved it! I want them to make 3 more movies now! Everyone I know has mixed feelings about the movie, good and bad, but I honestly did like it. Yes they left out good parts and there could have been so much more added but I thought it was great anyway! I can't wait for the next movie to come out, if they are even making it. Has anyone heard? I want to see the movie again!

50 Things I am Thankful For

So I am pretty sure I did something like this last year, but I thought I would do it again. I am sitting here at work, after a busy, crazy day and sometimes when I think I just can't do " this" anymore, whatever " this" means, I guess it just means my insane schedule I have had ever since Karson was born. But any way whenever I think it gets to be too much, I think about everything that I do have, and what I am thankful for. And I am a pretty lucky girl!

1. Tyler, my best friend. The love of my life
2. Karson my sweet little boy, that has filled my heart with so much love
3. Kaili she can always make me smile and laugh
4. Easton my angel who I know is watching over us
5. My parents, the older I get the more I realize everything that they have done for thier family
6. My sister Bethanie. She is my bestest friend and I love her so much
7. My brothers, they are all so different and I love each of them for different reasons
8. My girlfriends, you know who you are
9. My cousins. I have great cousins and am lucky to have such a great relationship with them,both on my Isom side and McDermott side
10. My Testimony, even during my darkest days, I always held on because I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel
11. Food. I love food. It's true. So good.
12. Books. I wish I had more time to read, but I do love books. I was going to do a whole post the other day about books, and then I didn't have time. I will try and do that.
13. Music. I wish I sang more, but again the no time thing, but I am so thankful for music.
14. Soldiers. I am so thankful for the American Soldiers that we have fighting for our freedoms every day
15. I am thankful I work for my dad, because if I didn't I know I couldn't have the work schedule that I have
16. The seasons, winter, spring, summer, fall they are all beautiful in thier own ways
17. Movies, my family are big movie people and I am thankful for the creative people that make them
18. Games make life fun
19. Diet Coke & Diet Dr.Pepper, most importantly caffiene
20. Rainy Days
21. That I can see, hear, and walk
22. My clothes and shoes
23. My cute little townhouse
24. Cars
25. Soft, warm, cuddly blankets
26. Popcorn
27. Cookbooks
28. Lip Gloss
29. Smart people who come up with inventions, without them are world wouldn't be so great
30. Paper that I can write on
31. Fiber One bars
32. Calendars I can't live without them
33. Pictures
34. Cell phones
35. Warm water
36. Freedom
37. My mom.I have learned so much by watching her
38. Hope
39. Hair straighteners
40. Laughter
41. Bubble baths
42. Knowing there is always forever
43. My IPOD
44. Perfume
45. good naps
46. Family memories
47. For what I have learned through out my trials
48. apples
49. Love
50. My Life

Yummy Dinner...

Alright so the other day I was watching Rachael Ray and she did a " What's for dinner tonight" which was a turkey & stuffing meatloaf and sour cream mashed potatoes! Uh yeah that sounded so good. So yesterday since I had the day off I thought I would be adventerous and try it out! It was a HIT! Ty loved it and I thought it was pretty dang good myself. I have never made mashed potatoes, ever in my life until last night and I have to say they were tasty!

So here is the recipe for you all!

Meatloaf:

2 cups stuffing and 2 cups chicken stock, pour chicken stock over stuffing set aside and let it soak up

Chop 1 onion

Chop 3 stalks of celery

2 pounds ground turkey

1 egg

1 tsp of pepper

1 tlbs of garlic powder

1 tlbs all season salt or poultry seasoning

Mix all ingredients together in a big bowl with your hands, including the stuffing mixture

put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and put the meat mixture onto the paper and make a loaf out of it, drizzle a good amount of Olive Oil over the top of the meatloaf (this makes the crusty outside part of the meatloaf)

Put in oven at 400 degrees for one hour

Potatoes-

Rachael Ray says to start your potaotes in cold water and let it boil with the potatoes in. In other words don't boil the water first and then add the potatoes, just put the potatoes in from the beginning. So I did 4 really big potatoes, her recipe called for 6. I chopped them up into little squares and let them cook for about 20 mins. Drain the water, put potatoes back into hot pan, add 1 cup and a 1/2 cup of sour cream into potatoes, mash together. Add 2 tlbs of butter , cut up green onions add to potatoes, and we added about 1 tsp of garlic salt. They were so creamy and yummy I couldn't believe it!

For the gravy I did about 3 cups of chicken stock, probably 3 tlbs of flour, 2 tlbs of butter, garlic salt, half of a lipton onion soup mix, 2 tlbs of milk, you can just add whatever you want to make it thicker or thinner, I probably should have made more gravy so next time I would make a bigger batch! Any way that is Tyler's plate with all of those mashed potatoes, but I was pleased with the outcome. I always get so nervous when I make new things that they won't turn out, but this time it did turn out! The meatloaf is very low in fat....the potatoes not so much, but hey it balances out right! :) Oh yeah and this would feed about 6 people!

Weekend

I actually took these pictures of Karson on Thursday on my day off. They are kind of blurry because he was moving around so much! But they were so dang cute, I thought I would post them any way. We had a pretty busy weekend. Friday I had Karson with me all day at work, which made for a LONG day, he decided to only take 3 30 minute naps, which doesn't allow me enough time to get anything done, so that was kind of hard. That night we went to Cafe Rio with Bethanie's boyfriend Johnny ( my parents, Roury and Bethanie have been in Chile for 10 days, revisiting Roury's mission, they come home today)then we came back to our house to watch Journey to the Center of the Earth. However our DVD player has decided to break in our basement, we couldn't get it to work. So we ended up going back over to my parents house ( Johnny lives in my parents guest room for the time being) and watched the movie there.

Saturday morning I got up to start making mint brownies for our BYU party and a get together we had later that night. Then we were off to my good friend Jen's house to watch the BYU game. It was a lot of fun. Jen made some yummy BBQ beef sandwiches, and we had chips and dip and this really good punch she made. Then I brought the brownies, and my signature salad I guess you would call it. It's actually my mom's salad and I just copied it from her. It was good to catch up with Jen and Ben, and Zoey. Zoey has been sick and it was just killing her to not be able to touch Karson, she was so cute with him. Thanks Jen and Ben for letting us come over, it was so much fun!

BYU won! YAY! We are now gearing up for this Saturday's game! Very intense! :) Any way after the game we ran over to my friend Carly's house to see her and her new baby Finley. She is very cute and I forgot how small newborn babies are! They grow up so so fast!

We then headed over to our other friends house and hung out with them. Tyler made some REALLY yummy steaks and we had a good time. We didn't get home until almost 11:00 that is late for us! Sunday I performed in church with the ward choir and it was ok. Too many people try to sing too loud and it is frustrating. So yes that is always an adventure. Then after church Ty made carbonara for him and I and we just hung out. Rylee, Katie and Jonny came over later and we just caught up on things, and now it is already Monday! Where did the time go?

If you can't tell what this picture is, it is the top of the brownies I made. I tried to make the frosting a light blue color for BYU, I should have done it darker, but now I know for next time. Tyler's mom makes these and they are so good, so I asked her for the recipe and they were a hit! Thanks Kay!

Veterans Day post....a day late

I just wanted to write a little something in honor of our Veterans. Both my Grandpa's fought in World War II and served their country. My Grandpa Isom was a mechanic and worked on fighter jets, while my Grandpa McDermott fought in the front lines of the war. He was so close that some bomb shrapnel hit him and tore out all of the muscle in one of his calves and put a whole about an inch deep through his back. Growing up as kids we could honestly stick our finger into the hole, we thought it was so cool. My Grandpa is proud to say that he never fired his gun, but he himself was wounded severly by the enemy.

It is amazing how many people volunteer to be soldiers. We are so lucky to have men and women who are willing to do that for us, and fight to keep us safe and keep the freedoms that we have. I know that I take for granted every day all that I have,I have so much respect and admiration for the spouses and children of our soldiers. I don't know how they do it, but they do.

I remember in High School when I was in Concert Choir we sang a bunch of songs on Veterans Day up at the University of Utah somewhere, and I was proud to be a part of that. So I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you who help to keep our families and our country safe! God Bless America!

I have been tagged.....

8 Favorite TV Shows

1. Lipstick Jungle
2. The Unit
3. Law & Order SVU
4. Private Practice
5. Desperate Housewives
6. What Not to Wear
7. Gossip Girl
8. Eli Stone

8 Things I did Yesterday
1. Laundry
2. Gave Karson a bath
3.Hauled Kaili & Karson to meet Ty for lunch at Astro Burger
4. Went to Michael's to buy Keith and Kyle an art desk for Christmas
5. Went to the $$ store to buy stuff to put with the art desk
6. Made minestrone soup for dinner
7. Went Birthday Shopping for Bethanie with Johnny at the mall
8. Watched TV

8 Things I look forward to

1. Seeing Twilight with the McD girls next Saturday
2. Thanksgiving with the whole fam in Coral Canyon
3. Christmas
4. Losing Weight and joining Weight Watchers in January
5. Organizing my house after the holidays
6. maybe going to Disenyland in May
7. My special trip with Ty to Hawaii next summer
8. Relaxing......

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. The Olive Garden
2. Benihana's
3. Zupa's
4. The Cancun
5. Outback Steakhouse
6. The Pizza Factory
7. Sweet Tomatoes
8. La Luna

8 Things on my Wish List

1. Getting into a house within the next two years
2. Paying off my car and getting Tyler a new car
3. Being able to wear my cute "skinny jeans" by March shall we say...
4. Having no debt
5. Getting Ty done with school
6. Going to Disneyland in May
7. Having a perfectly clean and organized house
8. Getting a flat screen TV

Here are some good ones

" I really hope this new President will make our health care industry better" This coming from a client who thought one of her employee's premium was $300 less than what it really was, and where she got this information from I have no idea. But let me tell you people IF the day ever happens that the Federal Government (or the state of Utah) for that matter, takes over our health care, the paper work, the administration, will be even messier than it is now. And if you do not have agents like my company to call and help sort out your problems, you better plan on being on hold forever, waiting for a Government customer service rep to answer your questions. But what do I know, us health insurance agents are just an added " expense" to the health care industry. We don't spend most our days solving our clients problems or anything. When we are gone, who is going to help those people then? Something to think about.

Phone call
girl on the phone: Hi. Do you work with insurance companies?
me: yes
girl: Ok someone told me that I can get an insurance company to pay so I can get my tubes untied, so you know I won't have to pay anything
me: is it medically neccessary that this be done?
girl: no
me: As far as I know, no insurance company will pay for an elective surgery like a nose job, breast augmenation or getting your tubes untied when you already made the choice to tie them
girl: well medicaid paid for me to get my tube's tied
me: well medicaid is a little different than normal insurance companies, but even that seems odd to me
girl: hey maybe medicaid will pay for me to get my tubes untied, can you see if they will do that? me: Um I am not medicaid you will have to call them directly.

Um...where do these people come from? Medicaid PAID for her to get her tubes tied, interesting...but now she wants medicaid to pay for her to get them untied, if you are still on medicaid, I bet you got your tubes tied for a reason, now you want medicaid to pay for you and a baby.....ahhhhh this blows my mind! This is what I call abusing the system! Come on people! Medicaid regulations need to get a little bit tighter in my opinion! Wow, was all I could say!

Weekend

These are some pictures I took of Karson while he was at work with me on Thursday. He was sitting up front in this chair so nicely watching me get some work done. He is so cute, and so big!

So Friday Karson and I drove up to get Kaili and it was a pretty smooth ride, which is always nice. Friday night we just hung out at home and had some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, I know, so creative. Saturday morning we were planning to hang out and watch the BYU game, but at 9:30 that morning Tyler got a call from our friend Frank inviting him to go to the BYU game, it was thier last home game, and Ty asked me if he could go, I of course was not going to say no, so he headed off to the game at about 9:45. So I decided that I would be adventerous and take Kaili and Karson to run some errands. So we first went to Old Navy and got some Christmas shopping done, then we went to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, yes I took the two of them there by myself, which proved to be quite difficult with only one adult,but still doable. Kaili and Karson were both really good for me. Target is where it got tricky....we went to Target and Karson was ready for a nap, so he was extremely fussy and I ended up just taking him out of the cart,holding him and pushing the cart with Kaili hanging off the end of it...good times. So we got home at around 2:00 and then a half an hour later, I ended up taking Kaili and Karson to Larry and Kay's house so that I could go grocery shopping, because my cubbard's were bare! Thanks Larry and Kay it was nice to not have to haul the kids to the store.

So by the time I was done grocery shopping,Ty was home and we drove back together to his parents house and then we decided to go eat at La Luna, cause we hadn't been there forever, it was really good. Then we went home, Kaili was extremely tired and fell asleep in the car at like 7:30 so Ty and I decided to watch Baby Mama ( I had rented it) it wasn't that great. Kind of boring and not as funny as I thought it would be. And then Ty and I were headed in for a LONG night, since Kaili went to bed so early around 3:00 am she started waking up and she yells for us from her bedroom, thus waking Karson up every time she woke up. So we were up at 1:00, 3:40, 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00 and finally 7:00 and that is NOT an exaggeration my friends. True story. Good thing I have a nice husband who let me sleep from about 10:00-12:00 and I needed it!

So any way we have Kaili until Tuesday this week because of Veterans Day. So last night she got to sleep over at Grandma Kay's. Sunday night we were there and Kaili says to Ty and I " when are you guys leaving?" she wanted us to leave her sleepover party. Kaili LOVES to bake, she doesn't really eat a whole lot of what she bakes, but she likes it any way. So here she is decorating a cake. She loves to bake with Grandma Kay and looks forward to it when she goes to her house.

And that pretty much sums up our weekend!

Easton's Blog

Hey everyone. I finally started on creating Easton's blog, it isn't too creative right now,but I have the beginnings of it. The address is ourangeleaston.blogspot.com and I have a link to it under my friends and family list. Thanks!

Three years ago today.....

Three years ago today Ty and I got engaged. I can't believe it has been 3 years since that happened. It's just crazy! Tyler was so nervous when he proposed, I don't know why, we had talked about it lots before, like I was going to say no. :) His hands were all sweaty and he kept rubbing his head, I could tell something was up! Tyler picked out my wedding band all by himself and it is beautiful! I love my ring! It was a beautiful day and I will always remember it. Infact the other day we were talking about the last and only time we have been to Carver's Steakhouse was the night we got engaged. We need to go back there again, it was so yummy! Being engaged is so much fun, all the excitement and anticipation of being married. Since we were both married before, it was a little different for us because we were going into a marriage with already a lot of responsiblity (Kaili) but we still had fun! It couldn't come fast enough for us.

We have two sets of engagement pictures. These first ones we did on December 12, 2005. Due to our situation we weren't really sure when we were going to get married, because we had to wait for some things to go through so we took these first, (well my mommy did) It was SO cold when we did those pictures.

Then the wedding got pushed back (we were hoping for February, but it turned out to be March 11) So we took some more "warm" looking pictures, again by my mom. However the funny thing was the weather was HORRIBLE this day, it was starting to pour rain and it was really windy this day. However we did get some really good pictures, and used one of them for our engagement picture!

We planned our wedding in two weeks! We got a letter from the first Presidency the end of February and Tyler's mom called him at like 11:00 at night cause he was living at my townhouse by then ( I was living at my parents) and I remember just crying and crying, because it was such a stress lifted off of our shoulders. The next day we called the Temple and booked the date. It was such an exciting and emotional time for us.

A lot of people had mixed feelings about Tyler and I getting married so fast, but it was right for us, and I have loved every minute of it. I feel like Tyler and I have been through a lot as a couple and we have grown stronger because of it. All the time I will be at work sitting at my desk and I think of how lucky I am to have Tyler in my life, and how much I love him. We are different, and we disagree sometimes, but we always end up working it out, and I have so much fun with him. He is my BESTEST friend and the love of my life! Happy " Three Year Engagement Anniversary" babe! I love you!

Cutie Karson

So yesterday while folding laundry I was playing peek-a-boo with Karson, he thought it was the funniest thing ever! It was so cute. I wish I would have had my video camera there to record it. It's so fun watching his expressions change. He has been really into eating his fingers lately, and not wanting to take naps, he doesn't want to miss a thing!

Yes this is a Christmas outfit that he is wearing, it is because it is 6-9 months, and it is almost too short for him because he is so long! So he is wearing it now.

I love that look right there!