One year

It has been one year today (or a year and a day by the time I post this) since, the world lost a great person. I cannot believe that it has been a year since Spence gained his wings and was able to breathe easy once again. I feel lucky to have known him, he taught me to be positive even when I thought my world was crumbling around me, he was always so happy and cheerful and could cheer the saddest person up.  He always knew how to make me smile and laugh.
He introduced me to They Might Be Giants, which is the silliest of bands and will put a smile on your face if you are feeling down.
He also introduced me to the Ender's Game series, which he told me to read and said I would love it for sure, I was very skeptical at first as this was the cover:

Which at the time space stuff really wasn't my thing, still really isn't, I remember laughing out loud in the library, and thinking to myself "really Spence? you think I would like this??" and I put it back on the shelf for a moment, then decided well if he recommended it really can't be that bad, and gave it a chance.  Turns out, I loved it, and it turned into one of my favorite books...and now it's going to be a movie!

So here's to you Spence, I love you and miss you buddy, until we meet again.

P.S. Where do they make balloons?? ;-)

My 24th Birthday Party!

A couple days ago Kyle asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I said I have no idea, let's just have a quiet night in or something. Well he didn't like that answer too much. Later that day his parent's called him from The Magical World of Harry Potter in Orlando, thus an idea was born. I think it was originally supposed to be a surprise, but I figured it out pretty quickly when Kyle bought dowels and asked if we had a hot glue gun (for making wands). But I was okay with it, because I love planning parties (I'm just horrible with coming up with themes). Anywho, the party turned out AWESOME!!! (Especially for being last minute)

Our nephew Gratton, he kept closing himself in the girls' kennel

By the end of the night he made himself at home with four pool noodles

Christmas lights, and the Mega Blocks box =]

 

The Elixir of Life (water)

Harry Potter themed treats!

Butterbeer!

 My snitch cake! Kyle and my brother-in-law David

did an awesome job!

Towards the end of the night we started putting the dry ice

in the glasses with cream soda it made each drink smoky!

I had a really good time, unfortunately we forgot about the wands, so I think David and Sonja are coming back over tomorrow or next week sometime to make them! 

A wallaby, camel, and ghouls oh my!

Kyle and I went to the straw maze out in Archer yesterday. The first time through we did it in about 20 minutes, then we went through again, except we ran and made it through in just under 6 minutes.  We went during the day instead of doing it "haunted".  There were some places that you had to almost crawl through and places with ropes hanging down, it was creepy just going through it during the day I can't imagine it when it's haunted at night!

After we went through the first time

It was a beautiful clear night

There was a baby Wallaby there as well

his name was Rudy, he was super soft! 

The camel wanted to go through the maze too!

 I was a little hesitant to get close to the camel every time it 

moved I jumped back about 5 feet. It was huge! 

After all of the fun at the maze we headed over to the Haunted Mill they actually changed some of it around, so it wasn't predictable at all.  I screamed pretty good a couple times, Kyle gave one of the ghouls' a high five and I followed suit and gave one of them a hug towards the end of it.  He kept holding out his arms like he wanted a hug, so I figured why not? I think it caught him off guard a little haha.

Fall and Halloween crafts n' such

So this Halloween/ Fall I was determined to decorate our house, it's both one of mine and Kyle's favorite times of year.  Here are the results:

 It's kind of hard to tell but I cut out bats out of geo mesh and stuck them to the light.

 Our front door, I made the wreath

 The centerpiece I made.

 bats on the wall and lanterns I got from the dollar store. Heck yea!

...and last but not least garland on the banister

Wilson's Disease Forum

So last Sunday the 30th of September Kyle and I went to a Wilson's Disease Forum in San Diego, California. My dad and step mom as well as my mother-in-law and father-in-law were able to come along as well, which was awesome.
Here are the things that I learned:

• I need to get a liver biopsy, which I knew I was about due for, the part that I didn't know is that if the results for my I think it was liver function came back under 35, then I am okay to stay on just zinc, but if they are over 35 I should start on Trientine again for a little bit.
• Gluzin is an alternative for Galzin.
• I am NOT crazy in thinking that my zinc tastes and smells really bad. Apparently high dosages of zinc can change your taste buds and olfactory glands, it also may be the cause of why I can't smell skunk.
• And the big one is IF Kyle does not have one of the gene mutations for Wilson's Disease our children will have no chance of inheriting it. On the other hand if he does then there will 50% chance of them having it. The odds are 1 in 180 that he will not have it however, which is fairly good in my opinion =]
• The  test is $1000 and has to be done by ARUP or the Mayo Clinic, which is a small price to pay to ensure that we don't pass this disease on.
• However even if he doesn't have the gene there is still either 25% or 50% that or children will be carriers for it (I cannot remember which it was).

So we learned a lot and I would say that it was well worth going to =]

The butter thief

So Kyle was leaving butter on the counter so it would stay soft, but it kept disappearing, it happened twice before he asked me if I had thrown it away, or put it somewhere he just wasn't seeing.  I told him nope. I hadn't touched it.  Soon after this, we discovered that it was Sequoyah stealing the butter! Whole sticks of it! No matter how far back on the counter we stick it, she gets it!  So Kyle just started sticking it back in the fridge after using it.  Well he accidently didn't put it away immediately after using it for scrambled eggs, we were eating them at the table heard Quoyah get on the counter (just her front paws) we jumped up and ran to the kitchen, but it was too late, it was gone.  Also you would think that the wrapper would slow her down, but nope! She eats that too!

My oh my! Look how far I've come!!!

So as some of you know, we finally heard back from my doctor's nurse on Wednesday, after waiting 2 weeks for my test results...I was napping when she called Kyle's phone, after he was off, he came in and woke me up, with a somber look on his face, saying Kathy had called.  My heart dropped with the look on his face, I have been so so good about taking my medicine, the only conclusion I could come to in those few seconds was that it wasn't working again... but then he smiled and said my labs came back perfect! They were normal!!! Like a person that doesn't have Wilson's Disease normal! So mean.  I immediately jumped out of bed and gave him a huge hug! I am so happy!! Words cannot explain, in fact my labs were SO good, I don't even have to go in for a check-up, which has happened never!
I have come so far from a year ago, even just a few months ago! I am so happy!!!

Oh the shenanigans the girls get into...

So the girls were upstairs in our room, watching the kids play as usual, or so we thought...Kyle was upstairs in his office and I was downstairs.  All the sudden we get a knock on the door there were a lot of people outside 10-15 all looking up, by this time Kyle had come downstairs to see who it was, I ran upstairs apparently the girls had pushed the screen out  and were having a nice stroll on the roof  >.<  All the neighbors got a good kick out of it, especially when I freaked out and yanked them both inside!  I think I had a mini panic attack!
(Apparently they climbed a long our neighbor's roofs too, and a little kid told Kyle they were like were like Spiderman)

Is she a wolf???

So I took Aurora with me to get the mail yesterday, and there were a bunch of kids outside playing.  As soon as we were outside all the kids came running over.  One little girl asked "is that a wolf??" And I said "nope she's a husky!" one of the kids asked "are you sure?!? She has those wolf eyes!" 

To which I replied "yes I am sure haha." Then all the kids converged on her (there was about 10 of them) and started petting her, she just LOVED it! She thanked them by giving kisses. She did super well with all of the attention she was getting!  Aurora just loves kids, her new favorite past time is sitting on our bed looking out and watching the kids play outside...She's earned the new nickname "little creeper" lol.

Wolf and Grizzly Rescue

 Kyle and I had the opportunity to go the Wolf and Grizzly Rescue center in West Yellowstone in April, and can I say what an amazing thing it was, we only made it in for an hour before it closed. At first I was a little upset because all the wolves were asleep, and I was like man, we just paid all this money and for what to watch them sleep? but then started to get up and move around, and that was cool, they are such graceful creatures.  Then the little grizzly cubs were out to play and boy were they adorable!  While we were watching the grizzlies play, the wolves started to howl...It was eerie, beautiful, haunting and magnificent all at once, we were even able to get video of it!  Here's a link to it https://plus.google.com/u/0/104451722895426655390/posts/cAAYcEN8D4M It's a little jumbly in the beginning and doesn't even come close to hearing it in person, but still really cool.  We asked the ranger if that was something they did everyday at about that time and he said no, that we were really lucky the wolves just howl whenever, it's a sporadic thing and they don't even howl everyday.  So that was like wow, we were really glad we went even if it was only for an hour.  Here's some pictures:

R Mountain

So I think it's been almost two months ago but we (Kirstie's family minus Bill and Mav, and David's family minus Sonja, and our family minus Sequoyah) hiked "R" Mountain! It was a lot of fun! here are some pictures from that day:

 Everyone

 Rach and Grat

 Siblings <3

 Aurora off leash! She did really well!

 Love this pic

Brothers =]

 This one too

Cousins <3

 Father & Son

 Kyle and Aurora taking a  rest at the top, it's a looooong ways up!

 At the very top!

 Me and Aurora

View from the top!

Happy little family, minus one.

  

Aurora was exhausted after that long hike!

Royalty

So today in our Family History class, I decided to see how far back I could go from my Grandma Leonelle's line, and boy was I in for treat... First I found a line of Sir's and Knights, and I was like whoa! That is SO cool! Then I kept going and found Dukes and Duchesses, then Princess's and Queen's and King's of France!!! Even the Great Charlemagne!! And the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire!!  Ahhh I am so so excited!!  I had no idea at all!! Anywho that is all =]

Some thoughts

First off I just want to give a warning this post is not meant to offend, nor is it directed toward anyone, so please do not read if you offend easily, this post is for me to get some thoughts and feelings out so please don't judge.

How to start? Well I can say I am getting increasingly bitter towards Rexburg, to the point where I absolutely HATE it here, and don't want to leave the house some days, the cause of this? Babies, they seem to be EVERYWHERE I look.  I want kids so so badly, I was content with not having kids til Kyle graduated, until last month, when I was a week late, don't worry for all those that think it incredibly foolish for us to have kids right now, I'm not.  But the emotions of that week were at first oh crap! to well maybe it wouldn't be so bad.  This is the cause of my wanting. I am also incredibly bitter towards Wilson's Disease, I hate that it rules my life, HATE it.  But at the same time it's a part of me, something that I have to accept, it's just getting hard.  It seems like almost everyone I know has a kid or two by now, or is expecting, and don't get me wrong I am happy for them, I just wish we could have that too.  I really wish I could get a glimpse into the future to know if I even can conceive,  that is one of the hardest things I think, the not knowing.  I have shed quite a few tears these last few weeks, I have been an emotional wreck.  I'm not asking for sympathy, I just needed to get this out, I'm hurting and I don't know how to fix it.  Yes I realize I am incredibly blessed, I have an amazing husband who cares deeply for me, two wonderful dogs, who love me unconditionally, and bring a lot of joy to my life. A roof over my head, food on the table, gas in our cars, etc, but that doesn't help with that desire, want, need, to be a mom.  My heart hurts to think that our children may not know Aurora and Sequoyah, or if they do possibly not for very long.
Bleh.

Milestones

So I just wanted to post a few milestones that have happened over the past few weeks/month:

1. I can eat with my right hand again! It happened when Kyle and I were out to dinner, and I just picked up my fork with my right hand and started eating, it took me a minute to figure out what I had done, but once I had I freaked out and was like "Kyle!!! LOOK!!"
2. Last week I was at the library and I decided to test to see if I could use all of my fingers to type (instead finger pecking) and I could!!! I still can't do it on my laptop, but baby steps, I WILL get there!!
3. I can put my dangly earings in all by myself!!! (Kyle still has to help with putting on the backs, but again baby steps)

These are all things that most people take for granted, heck I used to...but getting my motor functions back even if it's only a little bit at a time sure makes me appreciate everything a little more =]

Differences

I think it's cool how all dogs have their own personalities, I have never really noticed this much before we got Aurora. Aurora is now a little older than Sequoyah was when we got her...and boy are they different! When we got Quoyah she was and still is a super mellow dog, I just thought it was because she was just over a year old and we must have missed her "puppy" stage. Little miss Aurora on the other the hand is a total and complete spazz, even though she is now 15 months old, she has not mellowed out one bit, like I thought she would. But I am glad, it's fun having two different personalities in our dogs, other wise if they were both mellow I think it might get boring, but if they were both spazz's I could see that getting annoying... They balance each other out perfectly, and I could not ask for a better pair!

Holes

So little miss Aurora has a new favorite pass time, and it's digging! There are currently 6 holes in our backyard this one being the biggest. The other day as Kyle and I were leaving we noticed another fairly large hole, and a giant rock sitting next to it. A couple days later we noticed she had moved the rock into the hole, and then the next day we noticed she had started covering up the hole withe rock inside, lol, silly girl! Oh well, we keep filling them and she keeps digging them, it's a never ending cycle! We are planning on planting some sod soon to see if that helps, we'll see, finger's crossed!

St. Patrick's Day

Kyle ended up having a mock congress simulation on St. Patrick's Day, so we couldn't do a party like Kyle wanted. But I still wanted to make it a special day for him so I got up early and surprised him with green eggs and bacon!