Maddie got glasses

Madisynn has a lazy eye.  We have been trying to get her in to get checked to see what needed to be done.  I didn't want to just take her to anybody.  I wanted to take her to the Doc. that one of my friends takes her kids too.  She has 2 kids that have glasses, and she says her Doc. at primary childrens hospital was awesome!  So I tried to get a referral for the girls to see him, never going to happen he wasn't on the approved provider list.  I was so disappointed.  Then hope came back for me, I had gotten together with another friend whose daughter pretty much has the same problem maddie has.  She totally recommended her Doc. to us.
So using matt's works eye insurance plan I checked online to see if he was an approved Doc  He was!  So I made an appointment right away.  We were able to get in within a couple of weeks from when I called.  So we went and made the hr. trip to Ogden to see this eye Doc.  We filled out paperwork and thought things would be fine.  Then they called me back up to the front desk and told me that Madisynn's checkup wasn't considered routine.  They told me that I needed to have a referral from our medical Doc just incase madisynn had some kind of eye disease or problem that needed medical insurance to cover it.  They told me I could risk it and be seen, but that if it fell on to medical issue that I would be stuck with a huge bill.  A little bummed that I had gone all that way and wasn't seen, but I wasn't going to take that kind of risk.  Medical bills are not something you want to rack up.  So luckily I have family and friends out that way we just went and spent the day with them.
A few days later I got a call from the eye center apologizing to me for wasting my time, and also wanting to know if we still wanted to be seen there.  I did, so they said they would take care of everything except that I needed to call the girls Doc and have them send a referral.  I did that, and I was just so impressed with these people for helping me so well.  We were able to be seen 2 weeks from the last appt. we made. 
We went and the eye doc was wonderful.  Kenzie didn't need glasses, she was 20/20 vision.  Maddie on the other hand definately has a lazy eye, and she is far sighted.  They told me glasses were needed.  I have been dreading those words so bad.  I didn't want to deal with the hassle of taking care of glasses.  Also I couldn't see maddie wearing glasses.  She is so pixielike, i felt like it was going to change her.  I know that sounds stupid.  I just kept on thinking what if she gets teased, I can't handle that.  The thing that matters most though is that this problem is going to be fixed and maddie will be able to see better.  We went and checked glasses out, and maddie wanted pink ones.  So we found some, and we made a big deal about it to pump her up and be excited to have glasses.  We picked the glasses up on Saturday November 14th.  She loved them, and she looks cute!  I'm just thrilled that she can see, I can already tell a difference in her lazy eye.  It's crazy!  Maddie is treating them good, that is so far.  We are rewarding her like crazy for treating her glasses good and keeping them on.  Hopefully it continues to go well.  She will be seen again in about 3 and a half weeks to see how things are progressing.

Our New Car

Today we brought home our new car.  I'm so excited to fineally have this out of our way.  I hate applying for loans.  Anyways we got a great deal on a 2008 Nissan Altima.  Very few miles, it's beautiful!  I love it!  Here it is:  I hope she lasts a long long long time. =)

Pictures of Matt's Car Crash.....Crazy!

RIP our poor Acura!  It did it's job and saved Matt's life.  It's truly amazing that Matt walked away without any serious injuries.  The pictures don't do it justice; it looked way worse in person.

 Drivers side the only side that the windows didn't break.  The back door on the drivers side wouldn't even budge to open.  The tire is all messed up.  The back door hatch wouldn't even open up all of the way.

 

Bachus Highway just North of the 5400 South stop light by ATK.  This is where Matt went off the road and started to roll down a steep hill.  He took out a merge sign, and if he had gone off a little sooner he would have wrapped the car around a telephone pole.  He was very LUCKY!

 This is the bottom of the hill where he rolled.  It was about a 15 -20 ft. steep incline/decline on the hill.  We didn't feel like climbing down the hill to take a picture from the bottom.  We were both very tired, and Matt was sore.  So sorry use your imagination!!!

My Husband =)

My dear sweet husband, I love him so much!!!  I'm glad that he is alive!  This morning he was in a car accident.  Totally not his fault.  He was on his way home from work driving on Bachus Highway at about 5 in the morning.  He had the cruise control set at 60 which was the speed limit.  Well there was a car tailgateing him.  The car had every opportunity to pass Matt, but it didn't.  When Matt got to the spot where another lane comes in, Matt switched lanes.  So this car that was tailgateing matt speeds past Matt and cuts him off .  Matt had to slam on the brakes and swerve.  When he came to the side of the road which was gravely Matt lost control of the car, and rolled it.  He rolled about 3 or 4 times down a steep hill.  The car that tailgated matt didn't even stop, just kept right on driving.  Jerk!!!  Luckily Matt was ok.  He walked away.  He called me right away, and you know when you get a call at 5 am it's never good.  Well at least for me, since Matt isn't home at that time.  I knew right away that it wasn't going to be good.  I'm just glad that he was ok.  I kept my cool, I let him know that I loved him, and that things would be ok.  I also said that I was pretty ticked with other car, and in no way was I mad at him.  How could I be???  I mean if he would have been driving recklessly  I would have been pretty mad.  Anyways he was going to call 911, but a lady that saw matt roll down the hill called for him.  She didn't see the car that caused the accident, which is too bad.  I hope the guy or girl gets caught somehow.  The lady stayed of course so she could give her witness report.  The car was towed, we have a rental car, and we are just waiting for the assesment process right now.  The car is totaled in my opinion, and I hope the insurance thinks so too.  The car looks aweful.  I can't believe I forgot to grab the camera when we went to go pick up our things at the tow center.  We used our cell phone to take pictures, and we don't have an adaptor to download them to our computer.  We are going to go get one so I can show you what the car looks like now.  I can't believe Matt walked away with just a few scratches on his hand.  He is a little sore, but I'm sure that when he wakes up he isn't going to be feeling to good.  I'm so glad he was wearing a seatbelt!  Seatbelts save lives, they really do!!!  Road Rage is an aweful thing.  I'm thinking next time someone is tailgateing me on 2 lane highway I will just pull off to the side and let them pass if they don't do it willingly.  Anyways I will keep you all updated on how things go, and as soon as we get that adapter I will download pictures for you to see.
You know Matt may not be the biggest talker, he may play video games and computer games too much,(he has calmed down a lot with it because I have asked him too) he may spend too much time on facebook(facebook is addicting, and it could be worse, and I'm thankful it's not!), he may not have the best job in the world (he loves what he does, and I can't take that away from him), but you know what I love him and he's still mine.  He treats me good, he loves me, I know he would do anything to make me happy.  Yes we have had our fair share of marriage struggles together, but we have grown so much from them.  Matt is a hardworking guy, who gets shafted a lot.  He loves his family and friends, and would do anything for them.  He is a very talented man, he is so good with his hands it amazes me!  I have to show you his latest project that he got done with just a few weeks ago.  It's beautiful!!! 

This is a tv stand that Matt made for my Mom.  My Mom just had her basement finished on her house not too long ago.  It's got tons of beautiful wood work done in it.  She was going to have someone build her a nice wooden tv stand to match the woodwork, but she didn't because it would have been just that more expensive.  So she had an alright tv stand, but it just wasn't pretty.  Matt really wanted to make her a tv stand and surprise her.  She was surprised alright!!!  The tv stand really goes well with the wood work in her basement.  I'm glad to have such a talented husband!  It would be nice to someday be able to have a little side buisness with his wood working skills.  Someday maybe.  Just out of curiosity how much would you pay for this tv stand?  Let me know what you think.  Thanks! =) 

Oh and i'm sorry the picture quality is not the best.  I hate my camera, I can't ever seem to get it to work the way I want it too.  I guess you just have to do what you got to do and deal with it!

I'm a crossing guard!

Today I finished my training and shadowing, so now i'm officially a substitute crossing guard!  Last year a friend of mine who is a full time crossing guard said you should get an application to be a crossing guard.  I was all for it!  So I got an application filled it out and submitted it.  No one ever contacted me, so I tried calling more than several times to see if they were hiring.  I finally gave up.  As you can imagine I was very surprised when I got a phone call close to 3 weeks ago asking if I was still interested in doing crossing.  That totally made my day!  So I went in the following week to fill out paper work, and to see if this was really something I wanted to do.  I really want to do it, so they did a background check which was completed this past Monday.  I did my training yesterday 5 hrs. worth, and I get paid for it, so that's worth it!  I was so nervous to do my shadowing today to complete my training.  My Boss Robert likes to put newbies on a busy road to shadow, so they can get a feel for it.  If you can do a busy road, you can do anything!  So I was put right on 3500 South and Centennial road for Lakeridge elementary.  I was nervous starting out, but each time I went out I did even better!  I'm really looking forward to subbing.  You have to startout subbing to become full time and get your own route.  This job has it's perks, you can bring your kids if need be.  Since Matt works graves it works well for me that I don't have to unless I want too!  This weekend the new substitute list comes out.  I really hope I get a lot of calls!

Major Milestone

So yes the time has finely come. McKenzie started Kindergarten this past Monday August 31st. I have been dreading it, and wanting it. I hope that makes sense. I have been dreading it because it means she is growing up, and I won't see her all day. It makes me sad. I've been wanting it only when she is being a little Grouchy stinker. So I was a mess anxiety wise. The week before school started I had trouble sleeping and I would cry here and there realizing what was about to come. I asked Matt to give McKenzie, Maddisynn, and Me blessings. The blessing helped me. I wasn't as anxious, and teary as I thought I would be.

I decided to start a new schedule for me so I would have more time with my kiddos. I decided I would get up at 5 and get the things done that I needed to get done before the girls woke up. That means getting my butt to bed earlier. So I did wake up at 5:20, and wouldn't you know it McKenzie was up too. I was like are you kidding me get back to bed! She went back to bed for a little while, but ended getting up and out of bed at 6:30. She was soooooo excited! She was ready to go! I still wasn't ready. So I got done doing what I was doing, got ready. Had her lye down on the couch and wait for me, so Maddie could sleep a little longer. When we were all done with getting ready and eating breakfast I took the first day of school pictures. Here they are:

Madisynn absolutely adores McKenzie, she loves giving her hugs, and following her! Anyways McKenzie is so stinking cute, and is so ready for kindergarten. So we were off after the picture taking. We made it to school with a little time to spare. I looked around and all of these Mothers were taking all of these pictures of their kids. I felt bad and guilty that I didn't bring my camera. I just didn't think I could handle it. I was on the verge of tears as it was, and my camera sucks! So the bell rings for them to line up and get to class. McKenzie didn't have any problems, she did great, and I was so proud of her! She found her name of where to hang her backpack, she found her name of where to sit. She was ready! I didn't want to leave, but I had to. I would have burst into tears the minute I walked out, but I had Maddie to take care of, so my eyes just watered a little.

When I got home it was so quiet, it was weird and nice. I was able to get my cleaning done and out of the way. There was no fighting, and screaming. It was nice. I still missed McKenzie though more than ever. I was so excited to go and pick her up and see her! It was so cute to see her and the class walking with their teacher Mrs. Newsome. She saw me and ran to give me a hug! It made my day! I'm glad we made it through the first day, and that we are continuing to get through each day. McKenzie has made a couple of friends, Rachael and Austin. She is learning, and just loving life!

I decided to take a few more pictures today:

Things will be all right. She has an awesome teacher, the school is close, I have a good support group. It will be all right!

Summer Fun

I have been a total slacker about posting what we have been up too. It's just been the last thing on my mind, and I wasn't in the mood to do it. Anyways now that summer is coming to an end I wanted to post some of the fun things we did. Yes we did a few fun things, but nothing compared to my brother Chris's family! They are my inspiration for years to come!!!

On Memorial day weekend we went to Thanksgiving point with my side of the family. For those of you that have never heard of Thanksgiving point and are wondering what it is, it's a place with scenic gardens, children's discovery garden, Farm country, and a dinosaur museum. In our case we ended up going to see the scenic gardens.

Here are some fun pictures of my family:

I love these first 3 that my sister in law Sarah took. They are beautiful!

McKenzie:

Madisynn:

Matt and I:

Maddie, McKell, Kenzie, and Gabe:

I love this one! Matt and Maddie:

These 2 were inseparable that day. McKell and McKenzie

Me and my Mom: My brother Chris being Retarded! He cracks me up!:
Gabe, Sam, Kaleb, Jack, Maddie, Dalice, McKell, McKenzie, and on the back row Ruby, my sister Kate, my Mom, and Trace:
My Brother in law Justin, my sister Kate, my brother Chris, my Sister in law Sarah, Matt, and Me:Some scenic pictures:

I love these pictures, they are beautiful girls, McKenzie, and Madisynn:

McKell, Sam, Gabe, and McKenzieMcKenzie, and Madisynn.And to finish off the day we went to the iceburg to get some yummy shakes! As you can see the kiddos enjoyed themselves. =) Dalice, Kaleb, Gabe, Sam, McKenzie, my Mom, Jack, McKell, and Madisynn.

The next fun thing we did was go shooting. Matt has a buddy at work that likes to shoot. He invited Matt and I and the kids to come. So we went shooting with him and his fiance somewhere up by Utah Lake. When we got to our destination we had to do a little offroading to get to our final destination! As it turns out though our vehicle couldn't make it up the last steep hill, matt tried several times, but no go. I was starting to freak out a bit because it reminded me of my 4 wheeling accident with me and my brother chris. I didn't want the car to flip over backwards like the 4 wheeler did to me and chris. So I told matt to stop and get the car on flat ground and park it. We would just hike up the steep incline. That's what we did and we did it. We were breathless though! Anyways I can't remember the type of guns we shot, but here are a couple pictures with Matt and the girls with his friend Dustins gun.

We all had a fun time! I'm not the biggest fans of guns, but I did shoot a few times, so go me! =)

Our next outing was the 4th of July. We have decided now to make it tradition to go to my brother Chris's house in Evanston for the 4th of July. This was our 3rd year doing it, and so far it has been the best year yet! It's just so amazing to me to see fireworks in the sky in every direction that you look. So we spent the day at my brothers talking, eating, and playing games. The kids played, and got all jacked up on sugar! They were ready to go for the night. LOL In the past the city of Evanstons fireworks have pretty much sucked, but this year they were so awesome. Very impressive!!! They actually held our focus for the entire show, our eyes did not wander around us to see the people all around the town were shooting off. This year the kids all did really well. Our girls actually held sparklers, and McKenzie was always by Matt's side wanting to lite another firework! She is going to be a pyro if we aren't careful! LOL Here are some pictures from the 4th of July:

My husband, and 2 brothers Chris and Quinn, the Pyros themselves!

Kenzie, Sam, and Gabe:

McKenzie:Madisynn:Pyros in training:It was a fun time. Looking forward to next year!!!

We went to this outdoor swimming pool by my Mom's house sometime in July. It's not the greatest, but we had fun. I wasn't able to take pictures because I forgot my camera. We did end up going home sunburnt. Matt was the worst, then me, and the girls were slightly burned. It was a rough week getting through that, the burn and the itchy sensation afterwards. Matt made us some back scratchers to get us through the worst!

The next outing was just the girls and I, and my friend Jacoy and her kids. We went to the Gateway to run through the fountains. I had never been and it's free, well except for the parking which was like $2 or something cheap like that. When we got there Jacoy's kids had to use the bathroom so they went and we stayed at the fountains. I'm so glad we did because the song came on that shoots more water out throughout the song. It was Celine Dions God bless the USA. It was sooooo good! The other 2 times music came on the water didn't shoot out as much as the Celine song. McKenzie really liked it. Madisynn was iffy about it. Kenzie was right in all the action, and Maddie just lied down on the sidelines! Here are some pictures of them:

I would have liked to go at least once more, but time always gets in the way. Hopefully we can do it soon before it gets too cold!

The next outing was ruined by the weather. It was originally planned for Saturday August 8th. We had planned on going to Cherry Hill a water park for the Kotter side family reunion. We were all pumped to go and then the weather turned bad. We were bummed. We ended up going to my Mom's house for the whole day instead. We brought our swimsuits hoping the weather would change. It stayed pretty chilly the whole day. It was a fun day anyways! It was just nice to hang out with the family!

Since the Cherry Hill activity was ruined for that saturday we my Mom, and my older brother chris and his family wanted to go the following saturday. I got a phone call a couple days later from my Sister Kate asking if I wanted to go that Thursday instead. I told her I would go with her and with everyone else. So Thursday came, and the weather was perfect! Me and the girls went and met up with my Sister and her kids. We had a blast! McKenzie did awesome, maddie was a little scared. McKenzie had no fear! Maddie had a little mishap where she fell out of her tube at the end of the tube slide. She loved the kiddy pool though! I'm grateful that I was able to go, there was no way my sister could have done it all byherself. She is nearing the end of her pregnancy, and she has 5 kids. She needed my help, especially with having a son that is quite the handful at times. I was happy to go and help her! They deserved to have some fun, and fun is what we all had! We were exhausted at the end of the day.

We had to rush home from cherry hill and get cleaned up so we could go to a wedding reception for matt's work buddy Dustin. I liked the photo so here we are at Dustin and Markell's wedding reception:I love wedding receptions, it just brings happy memories back of our wedding reception!

Moving on....So our plans were ruined again for the rest of us to go to cherry hill again. Blasted weather. We planned for the coming tuesday to try again. So instead of going to cherryhill we hit a drivein movie double feature instead. This was the first time the girls had ever been. They loved it! We saw G-force, and Aliens in the attic. G-force was stupid and the girls weren't really in to it. Aliens in the attic was hilarious. We all loved it! I'm glad at least one of the movies was good. =)

Cherry hill here we come! Fineally are plans to cherry hill worked out. The weather was nice for Tuesday August 18th. My Mom wasn't able to go, but my Brother and his family were. We had a blast yet again! First we went to the kiddie pool, we were there for like 10 min. Then we decided to do the dragon water slides The girls did so much better this time. Hooray! We spent the next hr or so riding the slides and then went into the lazy river. It was so relaxing, to just sit in a tube and be carried around. Every hr they turn on Music and water sprays out at you and dumps on you too. That was fun. So after that we took a break and went and ate lunch.

After lunch we decided to try the tube slide. I went with McKenzie who insisted half way through that she didn't need me to hold onto her tube. I let go. Maddie went with Matt. She didn't like it, she fell out again. Matt held her on his tube the rest of the way down. I don't know why they won't allow you to do that in the first place. It's stupid! So after we all made it down, they wanted to go again, except for maddie. We then went to the dragon water slides again after everyone was done with the tube slide. McKenzie ended up going down all byherself. She was so excited! Maddie just wanted to keep going down with me. it was fun! Then matt was getting tired since he didn't get his usual sleep and wanted to go soon so he could sleep before he went into work. Before we left we went into the swimming pool for a little bit just so the kids could jump in and splash. We had fun, and I'm so glad we were all able to go! Next year it will be a definate must to go to cherry hill. Here are some pictures of our outing thanks to my great sis in law sarah for taking them.:

The kids ready to get going and get wet! Maddie, Kenzie, Gabe, and McKell:

Me and Kenzie going down the dragon slide:

What's up with this picture???? I look as if i'm trying to poop or something! LOL
Me and Maddie going down the dragon slide:

Matt on the tube slide:Kenzie on the tube slide:Our family at lunch:

Me acting like a dork, I didn't think Sarah would really post this pic. I think it's hilarious!:

Well folks that concluedes what we did for our summer break. I'm not ready for summer to be over. It means McKenzie will be starting Kindergarten. I'm excited for her, but I'm also in denial. It's so hard to let go and let them grow up.