the gang...almost all the gang

left to right: Jenna (3), Erin (5), Anna (6), Kenzi (6), Mikey(almost 4), & Rachel (20 mos)

not shown: Megan & Drew--i think they were napping

my project list

in no particular order...just things to do some day...

• finish quilt for Rachie
• finish matching pillows for Erin, Jenna & Rachie
• do quilt for mother-in-law
• finish quilt for my bed
• finish "i spy" quilt
• do katie's "i spy" quilt
• finish puppet theater for kids
• make puppets for kids
• paint 2 coffee tables
• paint nightstand
• fix dollhouse furniture for mom
• help anna redo her dollhouse
• finish kids' memo boards
• work on watercolor quilt

tis the season

i have been thinking about doing a "christmas in july" this july. i could put up my lights and tree. i would put presents under the tree (i still have some from last christmas that i never did give away). i would maybe even do christmas cards. i would play holiday music. i would bake cookies (actually i probably wouldn't because i don't even do it at the december christmas).

and maybe i could order up some snow from mark or dan or sterling.

then, i could, finally, maybe, cool down.

what do you think?

The Laytons Companies Family Fun Day at Boondocks

Here is race car man Mikey...he wanted to drive so bad but was too little.
At the beginning of the day...they are all smiles and not too red. mini golf...we don't do regular golf since anna hit michael in the forehead full swing with the golf club (a real club, not a kids plastic club) at the driving range (there is still a scar).
After the bumper boats...i don't know why i bothered to do my hair. Mikey is not as wet because he rode with shawn.

Daddy and daddy's little girl. she remembered that last year mikey got to ride with dad on these cars so she informed us that it was her turn. Mikey was not too happy. oh well.
we had a great day and the best part was that it was all free. not too bad for a company party. thanks layton.

nothing of importance

yesterday and today i have had a pain on the right side of my head going down my neck, through my shoulder and through the length of my arm down into my finger tips.

it hurts to type.

just wanted to get that out of the way.

to shawn, for father's day two days ago

thank you for being a great dad
thank you for playing golf in the backyard with the kids
thank you for taking them to lagoon
thank you for making "fancy restaurant" dinners for them
thank you for putting them to bed
thank you for praying with them
thank you for letting them "help" you with the yard work
thank you for letting them "help" you with the house work
thank you for setting up their movie theater on the deck
thank you for bathing them and cleaning up mikey's poop in the tub
thank you for taking them to church
thank you for encouraging them in their play by playing with them
thank you for loving them
and most of all
thank you for making us a great family

you truly are the best---i love you

dinner delights

we did it and we survived. our first entire week of eating dinner at home. here's the menu:

sunday: dinner at mom's but we were in charge and didn't even have to go to the store that day to buy anything. bbq pork ribs

monday: i was sick but shawn did leftovers, yes, he did!
tuesday: steaks and mac & cheese
wednesday: hamburgers and chips and apples
thursday: cheese ravioli with creamy tomato sauce and caesar salad
friday: taco salad
saturday: pita pizzas
sunday: dinner at mom's again

it feels great! our goal is to eat again at home this week except monday (we are going to tooele and that just causes grief for me to plan).

p.s. anna asked about wednesday when we could go out to dinner again. she was tired of eating at home. stinker (sadly i created this stinky side).

*note on effexor*

if you can avoid going on effexor...make it your last option. it was mine but still.

so, my last dose of effexor i thought was last thursday. i have been dragging this weaning-off since at least the beginning of april. over 8 freaking crazy sick weeks. my last week of the smallest possible dose of 37.5 mg went pretty well. i felt good. so, i felt good about my last dose. until saturday. at first, i got paranoid that i might be pregnant...but it was much worse that simple "morning" sickness. i think i would have rather gone through 9 months of my morning sickness than go through what i just went through the past 3 or 4 days. violently ill is an understatement. and the crazy thing is is that i wasn't depressed. just ill. metally i feel good--so far. my symptoms included:

• nausea
• vomiting...everything, even some organs i think
• cold sweats
• hot sweats
• more vomiting
• uncontrollable crying (i know it sounds normal for me but really the tears just came and came and came and came...for no reason)
• more nausea
• pain all over... so much that it would wake me when i did manage to close my eyes for a moment
• crawling skin (it is such as creepy feeling--especially on my head, maybe i should have asked shawn to look for lice)
• shocks throughout my body all the time
• dizziness
• dizziness even when i was laying down
• constant anxiety
• extreme fatigue
• irrational thinking (paranoia shawn was going to leave me...maybe it wasn't paranoia, maybe he couldn't deal with me either)
• confusion--i could not think straight and i could not hear at times. someone would say something to me and i knew they were but i could not register what they were saying--shawn repeated himself numerous times and sometimes i still didn't get it.
• vivid dreams/nightmares--someone i know could not bury their dead dogs in the back yard because he said the mommy dog would dig them up and she would go crazy. so, he kept them in a bedroom in his basement in the corner of the room. the dogs were BIG dogs--BIG. and that is just part of one of my dreams
• no energy but the desire to do and do but then i would just vomit
• severe headaches--blinding headaches--nothing happened but i probably should not have driven to the doctor yesterday
• did i mention vomiting?

so, needless to say i went back on yesterday. we are going to try going off slower. every other day for a week then we get more meticulous and try going by hours. example: monday at 8 am then wednesday at 12 pm then friday at 8 pm. and we try doing that for a week or so. i don't even know if i got that right. good thing i got shawn to help keep it all straight. i may even just end up staying on the last dose for a little longer. i don't know. anywho, don't feel sorry for me. i feel okay today. in fact after i took it yesterday at 4 pm i felt dramatically improved by about 8 pm. so, there's my story for the last few days.

and it is just my story. others are probably different. this is just my own experience. i went on effexor and i believe it saved my life. going off it is horrific. but if i had to i would go on it again. perhaps i would do things a bit different. but i love being alive and i love being happy.

Ken Hughes is a SCAM

so today we received our second call from Ken Hughes asking to call him back. i ignored it the first time figuring it was for shawn. but today i thought that maybe it was for laser graphics (shawn's new business--if you need anything lasered let us know). so i wrote it down for him. not thinking too much he decided to call it back this evening. he was put on hold with some classy music of the easy-listening genre. he is not patient so he hung up. he tried again a bit later. again put on hold. again he hung up (he is not patient when it comes to these matters). so he decided to google ken hughes and the number he left 888-249-4134. it is a scam. they get junk debts and try to collect and get you to pay them over the phone with a credit card. duh. shawn did not call back. i called my mother just to warn her. and after i dialed i was put on hold and easy listening music appeared in my ear. i called again and the same thing. so i called from my cell phone and she asked me why i didn't answer when she said hello. she couldn't hear anything. she called back on my phone. i answered and got the music again after i said hello. she called back on my cell phone and said she could hear me. wierd. while all this was going on shawn contacted our phone company. the guy said he had never heard of this happening before but he made a big note in our file and gave us a file number or something. i just don't want to be charged for porn or calls to taiwan. argh! i am really glad shawn thought to google the name. it never would have crossed my mind. but now i am aware. google unknown numbers and names before you call them back.