Happenings of Tonight

I made dinner tonight. It was stuffed french bread pizza! Yum, yum and I was so surprised it actually turned out looking good. My food never looks nice.

I went out running tonight. The snowflakes were coming down like crazy and I could hardly see. The snow kept flying right into my eyes and then my contacts started getting foggy.

Chloee had taken my gloves and headband that I dumped off when I got home and put them on. I was taking a shower when she showed me but then she only had on the headband and the gloves and underwear. I told her to tell Josh to take a picture of her but he made her put clothes on first. She looked so cute in her skivvies with her "accessories".

Chicken Pox???

On Friday the 19th, Halle went in and got her 1 year shots, as seen in a previous post. The very next day, Josh got his appendix out. We came home on Sunday and picked up the girls on Monday from my Mom. Tuesday night I threw my back out and neither of us could lift Halle up due to injuries. Mine was because of something very stupid that I did, at least Josh had surgery.

My ever so loving sister surprised me and showed up Wednesday morning. She stayed here and cleaned my house, took care of Hals and then took her home with her that afternoon. She is a lifesaver. I don't know what I'd do without her. It made my whole day just to see her. She knew I was coming down on Saturday for the baby shower, so I could just pick Halle up then.

My visiting teachers brought us dinner on Wednesday and Thursday night. The only reason they even knew was because they were coming to visit me on Wednesday when I was sending Halle away with Amy.

I picked up Halle on Saturday. Oh how I missed her. Sunday morning she had 3 spots on her face, I thought they were just a rash from how she was sleeping. She was fine but she did run a fever Saturday night. Then, I went in this morning to get her from bed and the spots are all over her body. I just stood there and cried. I remember my Dr saying that 1/35 kids breakout around where the shot was from the chicken pox vaccine. I talked to the nurse this morning about it and she said to bring her in.

I wanted to cry, I had taken her to church and all of those people are now exposed. Lucky for me, which never happens.... it is NOT the chicken pox!!! He took one look at her and said that it's a reaction from the MMR vaccine that causes a rash over their whole body. Only 1/50 kids get it. Eh... we can't beat those odds. He said it comes about 7-12 days after the shot, well we're on day 10, perfect timing. There's nothing you can do for it. I just have to watch for a spiking fever, don't let her itch it very much and make sure it goes away in 2-3 days. For once, I feel like my luck isn't so bad. Granted, she did break out in the rash but at least it's not chicken pox!!!

Halle's 1st Birthday

This is so late, I know. I have not had time to put up this ever so long post about Halle's birthday. Just a warning, lots and lots of pictures, but hey, this is my blog and I can put a thousand pictures of Halle up if I want to. This is my only form of journaling. Sad thing is that I really cut it down from what I took with my camera.

HALLE TURNS 1!!!

She absolutely hated that hat.

She does this new thing where she says, "Oewwww" as you show her something cool.

A close up of the "Oewwww"

Trying to rip the hat off.

She loved this ball. Of course her favorite present was the one from the dollar store. This girl is obsessed with balls. She loves them in all sizes.

Now she's doing her fish kiss face.

Chloee hated that the camera wasn't on her.

See all the love for the ball?

She really didn't care much about unwrapping anything. Little lazy girl, she wanted us to do it for her so that she could get the present faster.

No, we do not let our children play with fire, although this picture would tell you otherwise.

After she (dad) blew out the candle. She thought that was pretty cool!

"Yum! But there's not enough in my mouth!"

"There we go, much better!"

Don't you want to just kiss that face? Well, I do!

"More, give me more!"

"I just can't get enough!"

"All that's left of my cupcake is the stupid wrapper, oh well, I'll eat it anyway! YUM!!!"

We had so much fun with her. She is so hilarious. I love the little facial expressions she pulls and the way she does her "courtesy" laugh, as my friend calls it.

Happy Birthday Halle!!!
We Love You!!!

The Pathfinder... Off Path

Almost 2 months ago, we were going up to Logan for Kyle's baby blessing. As we hit the mouth of the canyon, they were hauling a huge HOUSE that took up both of the lanes, going 10 mph. Being the ever so smart people we are... we decided we'd get there faster if we got off and went down through Mt. Sterling on the back roads instead of following the transport of a house.

Amy was following us, she slept at our house the night before. Josh takes a wrong turn, I said we needed to go the other way. Josh decides that instead of having to turn and back up, he'd just swing it with a wide turn. I said, "Josh, don't get us stuck." He says, "Oh Kimberlee, we're not going to get stuck, we have 4 wheel drive." What happens.... we get stuck. Now in Josh's defense, he didn't know that under all of that snow was a ditch.

The more we used the 4 wheel drive, the further down we got stuck. The closer and closer the snow started getting to me when I looked outside my window. It was getting worse.

The pictures really don't do this thing justice AT ALL. We were so far down, when I looked out the window, the snow was maybe 2 feet away from the bottom of my window. I was afraid the car was going to roll at the rate we kept sinking into it. We hauled the girls out of the car and put the car seats in Amy's car and had her go without us so that she could make it and give Marie the voice recorder.

A man was driving by on his way to church and offered us help. He went back home, which was just up the street, got on his coveralls and brought his tractor down. Yes, his tractor. That probably would have been the only thing to actually pull us out. It even took a bit with the tractor. We were so blessed to have him come by and help us.

We got on our way. We had already figured we weren't going to make it. It was far past 11. We got there and there must have been lots of announcements because as we walked into the chapel they were announcing that they were going to do Kyle's blessing then. We made it just in time, Josh just walked right up to the circle and was able to participate. We were so blessed, I couldn't believe that it wasn't over. Lots and lots of crying!

We then went back to Marie's and stuffed ourselves sick. Never has there been an Alleman get together were there wasn't enough food to feed an Army and at that, lots and lots of good food! Thanks again Marie for making my favorite Oreo dessert. I had my camera and meant to take pictures while we were there and I completely forgot. My camera was in Amy's car just in case the Pathfinder rolled.

Surgery For Josh

Ok, terrible picture. Don't have my camera, horrible lighting but still, I wanted to put a picture of him on here. Josh started with abdominal pain Thursday night. It just got worse and worse. I took him into the InstaCare this morning after at least 24 hours of the pain.

The doctor at the InstaCare looked him over and said he thought he had a hot appendix. They did some blood work and Josh didn't even pass out, way to be Josh. They sent us over to McKay Dee where he had to have a CT scan done first to check everything. He had to drink these 2 huge bottles of dye, which he described as drinking Mylanta but much much worse. He had to drink half of it every hour for 4 hours then he could do the CT scan.

At this point, I came home while he was in the waiting room watching a marathon of NCIS, his favorite one. My mom was great about coming down and helping with the kids. Earlier this morning I called 2 of my friends to see if they could watch the girls while I took Josh to the InstaCare. Cindy was on her way to work and Diane got called into work. It was like 8 AM. I was freaking out. Long, long story short, my friend Cindy's husband watched them for like 2 hours until my mom got down here. He's so great with them, the girls love him. Just initially looking at him you'd be scared to meet him in a dark alley, he's like 6' 5" and a big burly Italian man. We found out long ago, he's just a big softy. We love Todd. We got the girls packed up in my parents car and they took them home with them. It was so nice not to have to worry about them. My parents were great about the whole thing.

I did some things at home, got showered and went back up to the hospital. He was taking his last dose and then they put him in for the CT scan. They came back out and said they needed to get us admitted through the emergency room because Josh was getting his appendix out. We went through ER, post op, blah blah.... We met the doctor, he was on call, dressed in regular clothes and all, that was weird. There we were waiting and all of a sudden Josh is all concerned that the dog hadn't been fed or had water. Ok, that's what's on your mind? Seriously? Then they wheeled him back.

They did the laparoscopic way, with the 3 different holes and they said he'd be out of the hospital within 24 hours. Back when I got my appendix out, it was one bigger scar just on the right side where they cut you open to take it out and you were in there for 3-4 days. Granted, that was 15 years ago, but still. Evidently, they've come pretty far with doing these appendectomies.

The doctor came out and told me that the surgery went well and that they were just waiting for him to come out of anesthesia and it would probably be half hour before the nurse came out to tell me what room he was in. Well, an hour later she came out and said that he took longer than most to come out of the anesthesia and that he was now awake.

I went to his room but he wasn't there yet. Poor guy, he looked so tired when I saw him. He did awesome when they put the IV in him as well. Neither times did he pass out. Way to be, Josh! We talked for a few and then our friends came in to see us. They're like family to us. They brought me some dinner and for the first time in at least a day, I saw a smile on Josh's face. I tried to crack a joke as soon as I saw him and I got one of the sides of his lip to curl up. Sean had a huge beaming grin on Josh's face after no time. It was great to chat and laugh with them.

I went home, grabbed some more stuff and came back up to sleep. It was weird having Josh on the hospital bed and me in the chair. It's always been the other way around. My dad said it's R&R and I said, rest and relaxation. He said, "No, it's role reversal!" You'd have to know my dad and his acronyms to truly appreciate that.

Josh was discharged this morning. His nurses were fantastic. Both guy nurses and some of the best ones we've ever seen. We laughed about this whole thing and Josh was/is on lots of pain killers so it was even funner to have conversations with him and have him not make any sense.

Josh is doing great. We both slept for about 4 hours when we got home. My mom still has the girls and we are going to go pick them up tomorrow. Evidently, Halle learned how to say, "Bampa", I'm sure after my dad said it so many times. Thanks mom and dad for taking the girls and for all you do.

Josh and myself decided that we are going to start a club. That's right the NAC (No Appendix Club) and we'll just call ourselves The NAC (pronounced Knack) from now on. Aren't we so cool?

Halle's 1 Year Appt

We took Halle in for her 1 year check up. I realize that she is in fact 13 months now but you can't take them in to get the shots unless they're not sick. First time in a while. I figured I'd wait until it was one of Josh's Fridays off work. She's your classic, "well this could happen" baby. She fevers, swells, screams, won't eat, won't sleep for the next 3 days. I hate shots!!!
Here are her 1 year stats:

Height: 29 inches - 35%
Weight: 22 lbs. 5 oz. - 65%
Head Circumference: 18 inches - 65%

Clearly, she's pulling my height genes. Poor girl. Chloee has always been somewhere in the 80-90th percentile on her height. Just proves right there that every child really is different. Halle has taken quite the plummet on her weight. She used to be in the 80% or plus.

She still refuses to walk. Still no teeth, not one! She walks along everything and even walks with a little walker thing in front of her and strolls it around. Ok, she took 3 steps once. It was a few weeks ago and she was holding a National Geographic in her hand that Micheal had sent us. We say she was doing it in honor of Micheal.

Here she is, showing off her pink camouflage band aids. She got 4 shots, poor girl, I'd hate to be poked once, let alone 4 times. When the doctor was checking her ears, she was laying on the table and both Josh and the doctor had to hold her down and he still couldn't get a good look. That girl is impossible. By the time it was done, the paper that goes on the table for sanitary reasons was literally ripped to shreds. Dr. Forbush has said the same thing about both of my girls, "She is one of the strongest kids I've ever seen!"

Luck O' The Irish

My ever so creative friend, Cindy, brought us over cupcakes for St. Patty's Day. She was so excited to show them to me with the rainbow inside. Of course the girls loved their cupcakes and how good can a cupcake really be if the frosting is plastered all over your face?
Halle says, not so good!

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. The top 3 from TODAY:

- I woke up extremely sick. I had food poisoning. I just love it when a day starts out by throwing up.

- There was this huge fuel spill on the freeway on the exit just north of mine. It backed traffic up like crazy on the freeway, any back road, you name it, it was a nightmare. A friend of mine, Diane and myself made (ok, Diane made) sugar cookies and the kids decorated them. We took them to our husbands at work, nice that they work together so we only had to go to one place but that's beside the point. It took us an HOUR to get home from their office. It normally only takes 15 minutes. Imagine 5 very hot, unhappy kids in the back of the car for an hour and not really moving. Ok, my 2 were the worst but still.

- The Fresh Market that bought out all of the Albertson's is having their grand opening. I knew there was a great deal on the cereal so we went there tonight. We come home, I am checking the bank online and the stupid store charged us twice. Now I have to go in there tomorrow with a whole bunch of paperwork (+2 kids) to fix it.

Sweet Love...

Today as I was getting Chloee ready for church, I was looking at her and realized just how beautiful she is. I was taking the curlers out of her hair that she had begged me to put in. She stood there with those big brown eyes and smiled at me. I gave her a big hug and our conversation went as follows:

Me: "Chloee, I wouldn't trade you for anything in the whole world!"

Chloee: "And Mom, I wouldn't sell you for anything in the whole world!"

I just had to laugh. Oh and did I mention that I hate it when we have to change time? I hate it, whether it's in March or October. I mostly hate trying to get the girls back on schedule. It just screws up everything.

50 Things About Me...

I saw this on some of my friends' blogs. I thought it would be fun to do. Here are 50 things that you may or may not know about me. Gear up, you're now going to get to see what an interesting person I am. Ha ha, yeah right! :)

1. When I was in 5th grade, I had my appendix out.

2. My husband is an entire foot taller than I am. I am only 5 foot. The shortest in my family.

3. When I was little, then neighbor's dog bit holes through my top lip.

4. I played city softball for 6 years straight.

5. I have no control over my bladder and wet my pants very easily due to the fact that my ever so sweet sister, Amy, used to punch my bladder to torture me.

6. I (along with Amy) used to sneak out of the house at 3 am to put our backpacks down in line so that we could always be first.

7. Josh and I dated for a year before we were married.

8. When I was learning how to ride a bike without training wheels, I went to the end of the street with my dad and went tumbling down a hill. I came to the bottom and laid there as 2 cars almost hit me. I was laying in the road on a bend and neither could see me.

9. I was inactive from the church for over 2 years. I have my husband to thank for helping me come back. I met him at a very ugly time of my life and he still wanted to be with me and marry me.

10. I broke up with Josh 3 times while we were dating.

11. When Amy was dating Micheal, I secretly had a crush on him and told her many times that I wish I had met him before she had.

12. I hate to unload the dishwasher. I would much rather load.

13. I am the only one out of my siblings who doesn't have a middle name. I always wanted one and was mad that I didn't, hence the reason both my girls have middle names.

14. I hate mushrooms.

15. My dad is a twin. They are Claud and Claudia. Why do people do that to twins?

16. We built our first house when we were only married a year. I worked for a home builder and got a killer price on it.

17. Annie, Amy (my sisters) and myself have 2 kids. Each of our 2nd children weighed the exact same, 8 lbs 3 oz. Weird!

18. Right after I had Halle and Micheal died, I had to get on a medicine to get me through the funeral. A severe side affect of the drug was weight gain. I was on it for 30 days and I gained 45 lbs. Still can't get rid of it.

19. I weigh more now than the day I went in to have Halle.

20. I weighed 9 lbs 1 oz at birth and Josh weighed 9 lbs. No wonder our kids were big (well, to me anyway) Chloee was 1 week early and was 8 lbs 4 oz and Halle was 2 weeks early and 8 lbs 3 oz.

21. I have a temper.

22. I don't cook, I suck at it. On the other hand, my husband is an exceptional cook. He loves it and makes everything from scratch. Oh soooooo good. He said that if he could make money here, he'd become a chef. I guess engineering will have to do for now.

23. When I was younger a drunk man that had been involved in a hit and run was hiding in my window well from the cops. I could hear him and thought it was the cat, turns out the cat was on my bed and the bloody drunk man scared me to death. I wet the bed and I lay there crying.

24. I used to run cross country in high school. I ran races in California and Oregon.

25. When I was about 10, I tripled a batch of cookie dough and at it all by myself. I threw up for about 3 days.

26. I dated three guys with the name Josh.

27. I have only flown 3 times. Once when I was a junior to see my friend Hope in Las Vegas. My honeymoon to California, and this last November to Las Vegas for our girls trip. I know my sisters beat me by a long shot on that. I want to fly more, just haven't.

28. I was madly in love with this boy in 8th grade who didn't even know I was alive. No joke, didn't know who I was. I then later became really good friends with him in high school and he was my best guy friend.

29. I once faked throwing up in a bathroom so that I didn't have to kiss this boy at midnight on New Year's Eve that I had gone to the party with.

30. I once wet my pants on a date because I had laughed so hard.

31. When I was first dating Josh, I was working 3 jobs. That made it a little bit hard to get together.

32. I used to write poems when I was younger. It was very therapeutic for me. I found some the other day in an old journal.

33. I always wanted glasses when I was in high school. I though they made me look sophisticated. I bought a fake pair and wore them constantly. They were just the regular glass, no prescription.

34. My eyes are horrible now. I wear contacts. My eyes went bad from all the tanning I used to do. I didn't want the "raccoon eyes" from the goggle/glasses you are supposed to wear while tanning and it caught up with me and now my vision is awful.

35. I get scared extremely easily. Anybody who knows me can attest to this. Josh thinks it's hilarious to scare me, ALL THE TIME. I have an awful habit that I have yet to break.... When I get scared the words, "oh shit" come out of my mouth and I start hitting whatever is in front of me. I seriously cannot control it. It comes out of my mouth, always. Clearly I'm not thinking when I say it, I was just scared to death. For instance, one of the members of the bishopric thought it would be hilarious to scare me in the foyer on Sunday. Guess what came flying out of my mouth?

36. When I was younger and would get mad, I would bite my tongue really hard, clenching down on it for long amounts of time. I actually had divets in my touch for a long time.

37. I have had to have infusion therapy while pregnant with both of my kids. I throw up so much that I can barely function and lose lots of weight. Withe Halle they almost did the one at home when they just put a pic line in you and you have it constantly.

38. I love to mow the lawn. No it's not a riding lawn mower, just a regular one. People think Josh is just some rude jerk because I'm the one who is always mowing.

39. Annie, Amy and myself all married people who don't like olives. Weird! We all love them.

40. I had braces for 6 months on my top teeth in 10th grade. I'm going to get them again soon. I hate when people have gaps in their 2 front teeth and mine have moved. I don't care that I'm older and will look weird with them. I hate smiling because I am so self conscious.

41. One of my favorite movies is "Lucky 7". It is a made for TV movie but I love it. Plus, it's got Kimberly Williams in it, I always loved that we shared the same name.

42. At age 7, I almost drowned in a swimming pool in St. George. I was horrified of water after that and was terrified to get baptized.

43. Every night before I go to bed, all the doors have to be locked and checked, that includes vehicles as well. I usually double check. Yeah, I'm a little OCD.

44. My favorite color is green.

45. I hate to take off makeup. I never take it off before I go to bed. That is probably part of the reason I'm always breaking out all over my face.

46. I breast fed Chloee for the first 4 months and had to stop. I had 4 breast infections in that amount of time. That last one was so bad they almost had to go in and lance my breast. My doctor told me to stop breast feeding and not to do it with any of my other kids.

47. I love caramel anything. If it has caramel in it, I'll eat it.

48. I am allergic to amoxicillin. I had it when I was younger and was fine but about 5 years ago I was on it and my throat started to close off. They said it was an allergic reaction.

49. Everyone calls me Kim but I always introduce and refer to myself as Kimberlee, never Kim. I don't care to be called Kim, just weird.

50. When I was about 3 or 4 years old, I loved cucumbers. I loved them so much that my dad would come home from work and hold a cucumber in one hand and a candy bar in the other and I would always choose the cucumber over the candy bar. He thought it was hilarious!

Sucking The Poison

You know that good old saying, "Suck all the poison out of your life"? To truly be happy you must suck all of the poison out of your life. First you need to seek out what the poison is. Some poisons are bad habits, flaws, people, many, many, many different things. What if the poison in your life is something you can't rid of? What if it's nothing you have any control over? What if it's something that will always be there? How do you suck out the poison at that point? It's almost like you can't suck the poison out, all you can do is suck in the poison because it will never go away, no matter what you do to try and change that. It's like you're trying to suck it out but instead of spitting it out once you've sucked it from your body, you swallow because you know the poison can never truly go away. You can't even try and spit it out because it will always be in your life.

At this point what do you do? You've tried to turn the poison into lemonade but the lemonade is only made out of sour lemons that make you hurl. You do everything you are capable of to try and make the poison a part of your life cause you know it's not going anywhere. Despite your efforts, the poison just drags you down and poisons you... duh, it's poison. It's not healthy to have in your life, but it sure as hell isn't going anywhere. You try to think of a way to love poison and you try it, but then you realize that there's no way anyone can LOVE poison, it's poison for hell's sake.

Do you find a way to live with the poison? No it's not possible. Yeah, sure you've been living with the poison up till now and you're not dead. That's the beauty of the poison, sometimes it's watered down and sometimes it's at its full concentration and you really never know which one you're going to get. Watered down poison just slowly takes you down and you don't realize that it's destroying everything about you because it's done in small steps. Although, on the other hand, sometimes and most of the time, you get the full concentrated dose of poison and it takes you down in bigger blows. Instead of being kicked in the shin, you take a huge blow to the face! Sometimes the poison seems like it's harmless and sometimes it just makes you feel like you're a third class citizen. The poison knows what it's doing. It's not harmless and it knows that but sometimes it tries to mask itself into looking like lemonade, not poison.

Can happiness and poison coexist in one's body?