Finally

For all of my followers, I took my state EMT-Intermediate written certification test today. It was a bit annoying and I am sick, so that doesn't help me take any tests, ever. But, despite the icky feeling, I passed. As long as I've met every other requirement through the school I will be officially certified as an EMT-I. I am also done with school for the semester, so I'm pretty much going to slack off as much as possible and try to find a job.
Happy Holidays to everyone and I hope everyone gets everything they wanted!

Kail's injury

For those who have not heard or don't know much, last Thursday, the 28th, Kail broke his left radius. If you don't know what that is, it's one of the two bone in the forearm. We took him to the Instacare clinic where they took x-rays and confirmed that he broke his arm and that the bone was bent. The doctor there splinted his arm, gave his some Motrin and told us to follow up with our primary care doctor within the next few days. The problem with that is that the doctor at the Instacare clinic didn't set Kail's bone. He gave the excuse that Kail would probably need anesthesia for the procedure of setting it.

So I took him to a doctor the next day who is now our primary care physician. He reviewed the x-rays from the night before, looked at Kail's arm outside of the splint, and set it right then and there. He didn't warn either of us, he didn't ask, he didn't even blink when he grabbed Kail's arm. He just grabbed Kail's arm right out of the splint, tugged on his hand a little and squeezed Kail's arm where the break is to set it back. Kail cried his little heart out, but he was a champ. He didn't fight or kick, he just let the doctor do what he needed to do.

After the doctor set his arm, they splinted it again and gave him some sticky wrapping stuff that they usually use when blood is taken around the splint to make it look cool and because he was so good. That's what's on his arm in the picture above. Jason and I are not happy with the doctor from the Instacare clinic. It's basically a sign of laziness.

Today we took Kail in for his cast. He's doing really well. The bone was at a 22 degree angle when it was first broken and is now set at a 17 degree angle. The doctor said that they don't do anything to a broken bone that has an angle less than 20 degrees because it will heal correctly on its on. We go back in 3 weeks to have this cast taken off and a cast that will cover just his forearm put on. Today he was much happier with the doctor. There was no squeezing of his arm and the cast went on fast and painlessly.

Paramedic decision

I received the decision in the mail this week, but only got it today because of being out of town for my brother-in-law's wedding. I was placed on the wait list. This at least tells me that I did well enough in the tests that I didn't fail anything. There were probably close to 75 people who applied, if not more, and there are only 20 spots in the program. I had a few things working against me. I have not gone through the fire academy yet and I have no real world experience. If I am unable to secure a spot from the wait list in the spring, I will be working on the real world experience as well as doing all I can to attend the fire academy in the summer and do more preparation such as, more cardiac rhythms and medications, to help my application for the paramedic program next year. I will let all know if there are any changes.

Paramedic application update

Okay, I called the school back and will be doing my interview and skills test on the 20th. I may have to miss Chris' wedding, but this is an important step in my family's and my future. I have a written test I also need to take before the 15th, so I will be doing that as well. I sure hope I get in the program. The skills test is a tough one. I will have to carry 2 40lb bags down then up a flight of stairs, put them down, then drag a 165lb dummy down and up the stairs. Then I will have to put some nuts and bolts together and do some math problems. I'm tired just thinking about it, but I'm hoping that I won't fail on the dummy part. He's a heavy one. If they do not accept my application, I will know that it is not for lack of trying.

August and September

August and September were busy months. We moved at the end of August as I wrote in my last blog and this time I have pictures.

Front yard


Back yard. The kids have so much fun here. It's huge!



Our living room. We love our new couches.


My fridge finally gets to be inside and we bought a new stove because the other one was breaking.


This is the computer/kids' tv room. They spend a lot of time in here watching tv.


The boys' very untidy beds in their bedroom


This is Stacey's very untidy bed. She loves having her own room.


Our bed is almost dwarfed in our bedroom. We also have a huge walk-in closet and our own bathroom with a jetted tub.


One thing I've not told most of you is that Stacey was baptized on Saturday, September 26th. If I didn't tell you before, I'm sorry. It was extremely short notice as we had to kind of force our records to our new ward and get her in to see the bishop. Jason baptized her and she said the water was freezing. She stood on her tiptoes for a while when she first got into the water. Jason confirmed her on Sunday in our sacrament meeting, so now she is a full fledged member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Otherwise, we have been enjoying the new house. The kids are well settled in at home, church and school. I am now only 3 minutes away from the emergency services campus of school and I'm taking EMT Intermediate. I'm really enjoying it. We've done IV's which were not all that different from blood drawing and we will soon learn how to put tubes in people's throats. I'm excited. I've turned in my application for the paramedic program and I'm praying hard that they will accept me.
Jason is enjoying his job. The company is growing quickly, so there are days when he has to go next door and get Travis to calm down because he gets way too stressed about the fact that they are going so quickly and having a difficult time keeping up with the demand.

The Move

I'm sorry I'm a little late to announce our move. We signed the lease and started to move on August 21. We have a house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. We live in Provo now. I am only about 2 minutes away from the building I go to for school, which is quite nice for me. Stacey and Jayden have the Gollahers next door to walk to school with. They started school on Tuesday last week and have so far enjoyed it. I've been unpacking, organizing, and cleaning all week. We are mostly moved in except the few things left at my Mom's that I still need to pick up. We're almost done. It's been a long, tiring process and I have to admit that it's been wonderful to have our own space, even if it means finding out that we have entirely too many toys.
Stacey is very excited to finally have her own room. The boys are still sharing, but they don't seem to mind it. Kail loves the big, fenced back yard that he can go in whenever he wants. He also has the youngest Gollaher, Ashton to play with too. I don't have any pictures yet, but if anyone wants them, just let me know.

Family fun with the Gollahers

Yesterday we went to Hogle Zoo and Millcreek canyon with our good family friends the Gollahers (pronounced Golliers). It was a fairly nice day. Temps were in the upper 80's and there was very little breeze, which would have helped with the heat when we were outside in the blazing sun all day. The kids had a lot of fun together. We even got to be there for the baby elephant, Zuri's birthday celebration.

Jayden is waiting patiently on Jason's shoulders for Zuri to come out from her bath.

We stood and watched her play for a good 10 minutes.

Then the kids went on the carousel. Kail was not too pleased to be on there, but he went with Jason.

Trevin (Gollaher) and Stacey having some fun.

Kail's grumpy look.

Trevin, Jayden, Braden, Jason and Kail looking at lizards, snakes, turtles, and spiders.

They have a train ride at Hogle Zoo where we got to see buffalo and some other animals they don't have a walking path to. They were pretty. That's Travis' excited smile.

After the train, we went and had some very yummy lunch at Rubio's Mexican Grill. The kids enjoyed it as well. Even the youngest Gollaher made a very big mess. Then it was off to Smith's for some hot dogs and s'more makings and on to the canyon. We drove as far up as we could before we had to turn around and were able to find an empty picnic area.

This was a very pretty picture of a mountain from the parking lot in Millcreek canyon.

Trevin, Braden, Jayden and Kail actually stopping for a moment to get a picture.

We were right next to the creek and the kids had a blast playing in the very cold water just at the edge. Stacey ventured once or twice, but that was enough for her.

Summer semester

Well, today was officially my last day for the summer semester. I had a total for 4 classes; physiology, fire behavior and combustion, personal health and wellness, and emergency services capstone. I finished physiology back in June and got a C in that class. Today I took my final for my health class and got a 92%, without studying! So, for that class I'll probably be looking at an A- for a final grade. Yesterday I wrote a 10 page paper for my capstone on code of ethics and got my grade this morning, 100%! I was so excited. I will probably get an A in that class as well. The only other class I am wondering about is my fire behavior and combustion grades. I've done everything that needed to be done, but the instructor has only graded 4 assignments since the beginning of the semester in May, so I have no idea what I'll be getting in that class.
I'm really excited to have done so well in my classes and just wanted to share it with everyone else.

July 24

In my last post I said we'd be trying to head out to Salt Lake, and we did. But we did not go to Liberty Park because there were a whole lot of people there and not much going on. So, since we were in Salt Lake we went over to the Gateway Mall. We had to go to the Apple store for Jason to look at the iPad because he wants one. Then we took the kids to the Discovery Children's Museum. They had a blast.

Jayden playing with the water toys.

Stacey climbed the rock wall. Neither of the boys wanted anything to do with that.

Kail found the vacuum in the little house and started to vacuum. He even made his own noises. It was really cute. He makes his own noises at home with the real vacuums too.

They had so much fun. We were there so long that Jason and I got bored. We had to finally drag the kids out because we didn't want to be in there anymore. It was crazy, but they had fun and that's all that mattered.

On a different note, my grandpa is in the hospital. He went in for a doctor appointment on Thursday where they found fluid in his lungs and his ECG was unusual. So they sent him over to a different part of the hospital his doctor is in after they drained the fluid out of one of his lungs. There was a complication when they did the draining that caused a small tear in his lung which caused that lung to collapse. During the move from his doctor's office to the other part of the hospital his doctor sent him to, grandpa was in so much pain from the collapses lung and his back that he fainted. Grandpa also has a problem with his back that makes it so he cannot sit up straight.

I did not go see him until last night. He was awake from Thursday to Saturday, but he was in a lot of pain. Saturday night he was having problems and they had to put him on a respirator. He is mildly sedated and restrained so that he does not attempt to pull the many tubes he's connected to out. It was a sad sight, especially when he used to be so vibrant and active. We are praying that he does better.

Plans

So, as it has been a fairly slow summer for news, I'll just give a little more. I am enrolled in the EMT intermediate course for the fall, so I actually have something to do next semester. I am still in search of people to write reference letters for me, but I hope that won't be too much of an effort. Jason is enjoying his new job. He gets up at 3 in the morning, does his work from one of our home computers, goes back to sleep when he done and then goes into the office at 8 or 9. He likes the fact that he can work from home for the early morning part. Getting up and being to work that early was killing him.
Stacey and Jayden are doing what they always do, playing with their friends. They are getting quite tan too. Jayden has a funny tan on his forehead and I don't have any idea why. It looks like he's got two circles on the left and right part of his forehead, but the middle was protected somehow. It's not that noticeable if you're not looking for it, but it's still interesting.
Kail is loving the fact that Stacey can take him to the park. Sometimes people will go outside with him and let him ride his bike on the driveway. He's really funny though because he will go to the park for about 5 minutes and then want to come home because he's hot. Just like his daddy.
Today is the 24th of July and all those who have lived in Utah or have family or friends know that it is Pioneer day. We were thinking of going up to Liberty Park in Salt Lake to see if they still do the carnival type thing they did when I was a kid. Hopefully we will find what he are looking for and have a really good time doing. If we do, I'll post pictures and update.
We are also looking for a place to live now. We've found a few possibles, but we'll have to see. That is another update that will be coming.

Just a quick note

For those who are not on facebook or don't go on there very often, I am updating you on my CPAT test results yesterday.
Plain and simple, I failed. The very first event one takes part in is a 3 minutes with a 20 second warm up stair climb with 75 pounds added on. I made in through the 20 second warm up and then made it to a minute and 35 seconds. I lost my concentration and faltered quickly at that point. What I'm most upset about is the fact that I could have done it had I been able to concentrate on anything other than my legs burning. Once I lost focus of everything else but my legs, I lost my balance and my spot in the fire academy. What I said to Jason after I spent my grieving and anger period telling Jason all about it was I should have told those administering the test to talk to me about anything except what I was doing at the moment. But that was long after the fact and I cannot take it back.
So, instead of moping about the fact that I failed I will begin to train at the school with the equipment so that I may attempt the fire academy about next fall. My plans for this fall are to become an EMT at the intermediate level. I am currently and EMT at the basic level and the intermediate will give me more practice for the paramedic program I still plan to attend in January. As I have yet to turn in my application for that, I don't know if I've been accepted. I will fill you in on that progress.
As for now, I will just finish my courses I have now and enjoy my summer with my kids and Jason.

A quick note

As everyone knows, I am in school for Emergency Services. I had to take physiology as a prerequisite of the paramedic program. I took it over the summer and the class was half the summer semester. So, that being said I had 17 weeks of physiology crammed into my head in only 7 weeks. I struggled a bit, but yesterday I got my final grade and it is a C+! It may not sound like much to some, but let's see them take this class! I am proud of myself and this accomplishment.
I can now cross that off my list of classes to take before I can apply for the paramedic program. Now I just need to find 2 more people to write reference letters for me.

Fun Times with Grandma

So, the kids did spend a lot of time with Mary. She took them to parks and Thanksgiving Point, which has a dinosaur museum. Saturday we all went up to Park City to play on the Alpine Slide and the other stuff they have there. We all had a blast. Except Jayden close to the end of our day. Jayden was riding with Jason down the Alpine slide. They went down a dip, the bump at the bottom caused Jayden's foot to fly out and rub against the track with caused enough friction to flip their sled and both of them ended up with road rash from the slide as they slid an extra 50 feet down the slide from where their sled flipped. I've added only a couple of pictures of Jayden's injuries, but I think we counted 15 or so on him from the slide. Jason was lucky and got away with only one injury on his left forearm just under his elbow.

Other than that one tragedy, we all had a great time. Kail even went down the slides with me. He loved going down when we were on the slide but said no every time we asked him if he wanted to go down the slide again. It was quite entertaining because he never put up a fuss when we went down even after saying no.

On the following Monday, Mary took the kids to Promontory Point to see whatever it is they have up there. Kail was sick that day. He woke up at 3am with a fever of 103.6. We were able to get it down and he broke the fever after a few hours, so he stayed home with me.

On Tuesday they went to the aquarium in Salt Lake and some more parks. They wanted to go swimming so bad, so Mary brought them back home and took them swimming. They just had a blast with her. They sure love their grandma.

Sealing

So I've been slacking a little in my duty to this blog. It's been over a week now since we got sealed and I'm just now getting to write about it. It was wonderful. The spirit was so strong and the kids looked wonderful. We really enjoyed the whole experience of getting our endowments as well as getting sealed. We had a bunch of family with us. Don, Dianna, and their kids made it just in time for Don and Dianna to attend our endowment session and we had a fairly good turn out for our sealing session thanks for my family and friends.

Once the sealing was done and everyone was changed, we went outside for pictures. My wonderful cousin-in-law, Larissa, took pictures for us. I haven't received those yet, but my sister Jaimie was taking pictures with my mother-in-law's camera, so I have some. After the sealing we had a pot luck at our stake center pavilion and it was a blast. All the kids got to play together and us adults got to visit. It was really fun and I loved being able to see everyone again since we all live so far apart.

We really enjoyed having Don, Dianna and their family here as well as Jason's mom. Thanks to everyone who came and all the cards, gifts and well wishes everyone!

We've made it

Today is the day Jason and I enter the temple for the first time. At 6:30 pm mountain time we will be endowed. I'm actually kind of nervous because I don't know what to expect, but that will all just have to be left that way and I will try to do what I've heard everyone say, enjoy the session and don't think I have to memorize or remember everything that is said to me tonight. It has been a long, but wonderful, eight years that we've spent growing in the church together. The final push for Jason to become an elder and take the steps he needed to become worthy to enter the temple is all thanks to his wonderful friend Travis. Travis is so wonderful, he gave Jason a new job for a company called Asea where Jason is the shipping manager. Jason now has fairly steady hours and he is salary based instead of commission based. This means that Jason will now be paid a steady pay check and we will be able to support ourselves outside of my parent's home. I'm now hoping that a blog update on us moving will be here soon.
On Friday, we will be sealed as a family at 11 am. We are having a pot luck with family and friends that day as an unofficial reception since we didn't have one when we got married civily. I'm happy that Jason's mom will be here and so will my Don, Dianna and family from Missouri. I love when family can make it for such special times like this.
As we all know, Father's Day is Sunday. Kail's birthday is also on Sunday. He'll be a big 3-year-old. He's getting so big and so smart. He can name most colors, shapes, letters and numbers. He also knows the sounds common animals make. He speaks extremely well with the little kid "slurs" and he forms complete sentences.
Stacey and Jayden are doing the same thing kids their ages do. They are out playing with their friends pretty much all day. We finally got Jayden to eat bread, so now he eats sandwiches with just meat. He won't eat the sandwiches with mayo and he won't touch peanut butter and jelly sandwiches either, but it's small steps. I'm just happy he's eating bread.
I'll be taking my physiology lab final tomorrow and the lecture final next Tuesday. I'm hoping that I get a passing grade as this has been a tough class. It sure is cool to see how things work and what makes them work. I attended the Candidate Physical Agiligy Test (CPAT) orientation last Saturday where they let us play with the stuff that we will be taking out test with. I cannot believe how out of shape I am. The very first event, there are 8 total, is a 3 minute walk on a stair machine wearing a 50 pound vest to simulate the gear and air tank firefighters wear with an addition 12.5 pounds on each should to simulate 2 hoses I would be bringing up the stairs in a 5 story building. The rest of the test is done with the 50 pound vest on. If I don't actually collapse there, I will when I get to event #7 where I have to drag a 165 dummy 70 feet. I just about passed out doing it Saturday. Hopefully I can find the motivation to get out and do some exercise before July 10th. I know, it's soon. I just have to do the CPAT in 12 minutes to be accepted into the fire academy completely.They are holding my spot pending my CPAT results. If I pass, I'm in, if I fail, I'm out. Let's hope I'm in.

Beginning of Summer

Well, Jason and I now have our official temple recommends signed by both our bishop and stake president. We are so excited! We have made the appointment for our endowment session on June 16th and our sealing session is June 18th at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I am getting a bit antsy because I really want to go now, but we are having family from out of state come in for it, plus we are having a little family and friends get together after the sealing session, so it would be really rude to change it now.
Stacey and Jayden will be done with school for the summer on Friday. They are so excited and have done so well this year. Stacey is doing well with her math. She still has some difficulty, but she's doing great. Last night Jason and Stacey were doing some multiplications and she loved it. Jayden is reading really well. He loved kindergarten and his teacher. His teacher did tell me that he would not listen to instructions on occasion, but that was because of who he was sitting by at the time, they were just too silly together.
Kail is amazingly smart. He knows almost all the letters, numbers, shapes and colors. He'll try to sing the alphabet song and he can count to 12 without a mistake. He watches a show on Nick Jr. that has a character who makes things out of basic shapes. The character asks what shape goes in a specific spot and he knows them all. Last week Kail and I went to Jayden's kindergarten end of the school year play and the school has shapes in the floor. Every time we walked by one he would tell me what it was. He will be 3 in less than a month and he's getting so big. He won't do nursery on his own though. We haven't accomplished that. Hopefully soon though.
Everything else is still the same. I'm in school doing what is left before the fire academy in the fall and hopefully the paramedic program the following spring. If all goes as planned, I will be graduating with a bachelor's in Emergency Services next summer. Jason is still at Whipple and looking for a different one. Hopefully something new will come soon. Along with a new place of our own to live.

Long Time

For those of you who used to get my blog, I had stopped because I blogged mostly about our house being built that we lost. Well, now we have a new journey in life we are facing and it's time to tell everyone I can about it.
Jason and I got our temple recommends on Tuesday, May 11th. The recommends have only been signed by our bishop and we are now waiting for our interviews with the stake president. This may take a while because our stake just split 3 weeks ago and it seems as if everything is going kind of slow. Hopefully we will get the interviews quickly.
Being that we have a signed recommend from our bishop, we were able to set the dates for our endowment session and our sealing. We are taking out our endowments on June 16th and we will be sealed on June 18th. We are really excited!
Jason received the Melchizedek Priesthood on May 2nd. Stacey was excited because now he can confirm her after he baptizes her. She said she knew who she wanted to baptize her and that was Jason. Stacey will be 8 this year, so her baptizm is just around the corner.
We are still living with my parents. We are hoping that there is a change for us soon as this house is being sold. Jason is also looking for a new job since the one he works at now cut everyone's pay. I am still in school and have been accepted into the fire academy this fall. I am excited and scared all at the same time.
I have been a bit stressed due to finals and all that from the spring semester and the beginning of the summer semester. And, to add to my school stress, we are planning on a reception for our sealing since we wanted to celebrate the sealing and we didn't get one the first time we got married. Hopefully I can pull off the planning and homework and home life all at the same time with a minimal amount of hair pulling.