Life is a process

I just left my friend Skye's wedding. What a beautiful day, I was glad to be a small part of her happiness. As I drove down the mountain I thought about how many wonderful things Skye has taught me.

oh... this is Skye:


(I know, she's a hottie!)

So here are the list of things I have learned from my friend. Some I took for granted, and others I have taken to heart, but all have meaning.

1. Life is a process. It's not that you pass a certain mile mark and you show up at the turn in the road called, "life" You are there. constantly. Making the best and the worst of it. It's a process

2. Everything is not a competition. Skye is not a person that likes to get ahead at others expense. It's refreshing. Skye is Skye. and I am Me, when I am around her. It's not always about getting ahead at someones expense. Thank goodness there are still those types out there.

3. Life is magical, and Heavenly Father is in control. Skye thinks everything in life that is "right" is magical. It's refreshing what a positive outlook she has on things. something I know I can work on.

4. Give your whole heart. why not? We only live once, why not give it all we can.


I know that sometimes I find myself on the wrong side of the lesson. Things this past week have been hard, and instead of being grateful for the challenge and growth I find that I have been negative. Life lessons are not going to disappear from my life until I embrace the lesson and learn from it.

I drove by our old house tonight, I had the pleasure to visit with our old neighbors, the Watson's (so good to see your family by the way :) and while I was visiting I found myself wishing we were back in our old house, with our old life. Without the trials that we have had this past year. But then I stopped, and realized without these trials I would not have the relationship with my Father in Heaven that I do now. I need him now, I needed him back then, but never knew it. I turn to him now, in prayer. often.

What a nice ending to an emotionally stressful week. I have priorities this next week to make it a great one. Want to know what they are? Ya, I will tell you anyways...

1. Not to get caught up in the drama.(just because I know something doesn't mean EVERYONE needs to know. I really need to work on this)
2. To be loyal to those not around.
3. To appreciate the things I do have
4. To show love to my family in all ways
5. To write thank you notes to these people:
a. my Mom and Dave. For endless reasons.
b. my Dad, Rocco. We are staying in his townhouse and we are grateful for him for allowing us to be there
c. My friend Jill, she has always been a soft place to fall, we have been through it all and I want to write to her telling her how much she means to my life
d. To my husband. for being a sounding board and a voice of reason.


I'll start with that. I love my family, my little family and my extended family. I love my brothers, they teach me how to be a better person on a daily basis. I have a past of letting them down, and I am glad they forgive me.

I hope everyone has a marvelous week... and one last thing.

Heather S. I am thinking about you and praying for you. I have no idea what to say, except for, hang in there.

And one last, last thing... Check out barb Bakes (click on the picture on the top right) I plan on making some goodies this week

one thing

This was the ONE thing that made me smile yesterday. The kids swinging on the playground while waiting for Keagan to get out of school.

Two things

Two things we do everynight:

Play games together


and light a fire!

Love this time of year.

SUCCESS! That is how I would describe our night last night. We attended our ward's Trunk or Treat, then hit the streets for some good ol' door to door candy extravaganza! We went to a neighborhood that has houses that are closer together to make for easy walking.
Every house we would come to, the Snow Princess and Buzz would run to the door, ring the door bell, and the moment they answered Keagan would say, "trick or treat" and Riley would ask, "Do you have dogs?" (My son is deathly afraid of dogs) I think people were asking if he had "dots" like the candy. Some would hear him and say, "no darling, no dogs here" It was just so out of his comfort zone, but the love of candy pushed him through!
We carried Maddy and we pushed a stroller, so Riley would jump on and ride from house to house. Keagan was too excited to hold still for more than a minute... I think she ended up running to every house! We had a great night, we were home by 7 to pass out candy, and yep you guessed it... NOT ONE! So we have LOTS of candy that we will be freezing for next year.

Keagan:

There was no surprise that Keagan wanted to be a Princess, it was just which one... She decided that being warm was a factor, so she chose to be a Snow Princess instead of a Ballerina princess. I painted her nails red and she has been diva-ish ever since. We invited her little friend Kyla from school to join us at our Trunk or Treat. I think they had a good time.



Riley:

Riley had a hard time deciding what or who he was going to be. Last year we pretty much had to hog-tie him to get him to dress up, so this year was an improvement because he was willing, just undecided. He went back and forth between a cowboy or Buzz. He said, "what about a cowboy Buzz?" Um... I guess so.. but when we left he forgot his gun, so he was just Buzz.




Maddy:

Miss Madilyn was a little lion *duh* I tied a pink bow in her main so people would know she was a little girl :) We originally bought this costume for Riley when he was this little. She looked so darling, and she actually didn't mind keeping the head piece on... I think because it was SO DANG COLD!




C A N D Y T I M E!!!


Keagan sorted all of her candy, just like what I used to do when I was little. She was so busy sorting that she didn't really eat any last night. She actually got SO much candy that she needed two big ziplocs. I say she had a successful night!




Maddy didn't get any candy but that didn't stop her from eating some! She crawled over and picked up a sucker from Keagan's pile, and we didn't think anything of it, well... about 5 minutes later I realize she is sucking on that sucker and oh-so proud of herself for unwrapping it!




Riley's stash! He was so funny, we have to pick through it to find all the candies with nuts, and while we were doing that he was picking through Keagan's pile. I guess he thought that was fair.

about that heart of mine...

Many of you have been asking about how the ol' ticker is doing, and I know I haven't posted about it in awhile, so here is the official, "out of Barb's mouth" update:

Let's start at the beginning, so you can follow along :)

Dec: had little Miss Maddy, joy of our lives, cutie pututie. Of course the "not feeling well" started a week before I had her.

Jan: They discover I have PPCM (Peripartum Cardiomyopathy- a swollen heart) They do an echo and show my ejection fraction rate at 20-25.

May: another echo shows improvement at 35-40. Yeah for improvement!

August: Traveled alot, didn't feel so great, EF rate dropped back to 30-35 (bummer) They tried to up the Lisinopril, but my blood pressure dropped too low :(

September: still not feeling well, no change in EF.

October: This month I have been feeling ok. Maintaing but not feeling great... frustrating actually. The Dr. and I have been talking about new meds. I hate the idea of new meds, the med that I am being put on makes me oh so sick... it's called COREG. They are hoping to see more improvement (we are all hoping). I will let you know.. you will probably see less of me and hear less of me when this happens, just because the side effects of this one are BRUTAL!

Regrets: I don't have any regrets about having my little girl, at the beginning though I did put off taking the meds because the thought that I couldn't have any more little ones and not being able to breast feed my last one was overwhelming, so I skipped out on the meds to feed Maddy just a few more weeks. Would those weeks made a difference? Not sure, but I know and my Dr. know that my EF rate isn't a great number right now.

Up next: I have another echo next week.

other thoughts: Never knew about this before I had it, and never knew how much it could change my life. I love my life... don't get me wrong. I just think I would have been able to run as Obama's Vice, if I were feeling a little better, I mean what does Sarah Palin think, she is the only women that would look good in a $150,000 dollar wardrobe. I could look dang good in that (wink, wink)

so hope that helps. and for the record let me just say: THANK YOU to my parents who have been oh-so supportive. To all my extended family who have helped us financially afford house keeping and other help. All those who have watched Riley because I didn't have the energy or brought in meals on the nights David had school, or for those of you who have just said a prayer in my behalf. I WILL beat this. I WILL have a healthy heart one day. I will. and right now i WILL get back to bed... gheesh, it's 1:48 in the morning!

Something is not right!

There has got to be something wrong when you see snow on your pumpkins. two words: Global Warming! Just kidding, I just think it's funny that in October we are getting an inch or so. This morning when I went to start our car the doors were frozen shut. Hello Winter, I've missed you :) Guess I will be cleaning out the garage today. yippee!

Carving pumpkins!

Like every other Mormon house in America we carved pumpkins last night for FHE. We always have a good time planning and carving the pumpkins, and I love that the kids hate the :slime: I hated it too when I was younger. The pumpkins all turned out pretty cute. David's pumpkin he called B.Charon and then he turned it around and I found out why... It has a HUGE mouth. sad but true isn't it! That's ok... I will get him back soon enough. Enjoy the pics!