Hailey is Halarious!

I just wanted to quickly jot down something that Hailey said to me this morning.
"Mom, do you know what SEXY really means?" I said, "What does it mean?" She told me that it really means "Cute" in spanish. I was laughing so hard, and she kept insisting that it meant cute in spanish. What is funny, is that she has been telling me I'm sexy all day. Now, I feel SEXY! LOL!!!

This is my oldest daughter Brooklyn. She likes to hear stories from Matt's work, but once he tells it he has to be prepared for a million questions all night about the story. She just can't get her mind off of things that intrigue her. I think she tends to get obsessed with things, and she probably gets it from me.

With that being said, here is the reason I am posting pictures of Brooklyn with a broom in her hand. For about a month now she has had a broom or the vacuum in her hand non stop! I was such a proud Mommy that my daughter was cleaning without me hounding her. This was a DREAM come true! It started to seem like a problem when she really became obsessive about it, but I didn't want to discourage her from cleaning. Finally I told her that it's great that she cleans the floors, but when the dishes are dirty, and piled high, then there are other chores that need to be done. In the picture on the right she knew I was trying to take pictures of her so she was running away.

She really is an awsome helper, and she will make a great momma someday! I tell everyone that there's no way that I could get by with having 4 kids if I didn't have my Brooky to help me out!

Time Flew in 2008

This is a month by month summary of our life in 2008.

January 2008

We had just moved in to beautiful townhome in good ol' Kanab, Utah. It had an incredible work out room, pool, and hot tub which we totally took advantage of. This was pure paradise, not only because of the nice amenities, but because we had been living at my mom's house for the previous 7 months. It was nice to be on our own again, but thanks to my Mom and Clarence we were able to pay off pesky bills that never seemed to go away. So Matt continued to work for Washington County Sheriff's Office as a Deputy. The girls started school at Kanab Elementary, and seemed to like it. We were planning on building a house through a program where you help build it yourself along with other families. I also worked for Color Country Community Housing a few hours a week promoting , and recruiting families for the program.

February 2008

I don't know how many of you know but we had 2 rabbits, Oreo (a buck), and Licorice (a doe). Well, Licorice became pregnant at the beginning of February, and my kids began to ask questions. "Mommy why is Licorice giving Oreo a piggy back ride?" I can't believe it's only 30 days of gestation for rabbits. We came home one night and Licorice had pulled out all of her belly fur, and underneath were 9 babies. 4 pink, and 5 black. They looked like little mice without fur, but really cute. We went to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for help because there were too many for Licorice to nurse so some weren't getting feed enough. They taught me how to make home made milk and they gave me rodent bottles. It was an awsome experience for me and the girls. We also loved going to the hot tub on freezing nights. Once we went on a snowing day and propped up the cover so our heads didn't get snowy.

March 2008

I picked up a cleaning job, which was totally awsome. I got paid $16 dollars an hour to clean 5 brand new model homes, and 2 clubhouses ( one of which was ours). I worked for my neighbor Eliora, and we became great friends. I only worked once or twice a week for 4 hours, which was perfect for me.

I continued working for Color Country setting up open houses and meetings. We still planned on building a house with our house plan, and lot all picked out. I had recruited 4 other families so we were going to start building. We made an appointment to go close on the loan. When we got there, we signed all of the papers. The person closing the loan noticed that one important paper was missing. We were told to come back the next day and it would be there to sign. A week prior to that we had started to have doubts about it, since Matt was working in St. George. We prayed hard about it, and decided to back out. It was really hard to tell Keith (the program director), who I was working for at the time. At that time Matt was feeling strongly about finishing his bachelor's degree, so that was another reason why we decided not to build.

We had a really fun Easter, and the 9 cute bunnies made it complete.

April 2008

After we decided not to build our home, I stopped working for Color Country. I continued cleaning, and started cleaning townhomes that people had moved out of as well.

Matt wen to the Dermatologist to ask him about a 2 giant moles on his head. He was hesitant to remove them because he said when they are fleshy colored they are usually harmless. Matt was annoyed because whoever he would go to for a haircut would always end up running into them. He got tired of that happening, and sometimes they would bleed a tiny bit from all the trauma. After that sob story they Dr. agreed to removed them both.

Matt recieved a call 2 weeks later with the pathology report on his moles. The Doctor was stunned, and told Matt that one of them was positive for Melonoma. He told Matt that it was pretty deep, and the Dr. made an appointment for us to see another Dr.( for those of you wondering, he went to an Ears, Throat and Neck Specialist) that day.

After evaluating the situation, the Doc showed us how much of Matt's skin would be removed, and he told us how deep it was. It would be a total of 2 surgeries, to get rid of it.

Before Matt could go in for surgery we had to go to the other hospital. There they shot some dye in his head on the area where the mole use to be. The dye would go down into the lymph nodes in his neck if it did spread. This part might not seem like that big of a deal, but it was horribly traumatic for not only Matt, but me. During this procedure, the pain from this caused Matt to pass out. I was freaking out because it looked like he was dying, and his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. He wasn't responding when the staff was saying his name, and I was crying, saying his name.

They finally woke him up, and whew finally that was over. They said that the reason why it hurts so bad is because there isn't any fleshy area on the scalp, just bone. Ouch!

So, o ver to the old Hospital we went for the surgery. They took out 6 lymph nodes from his neck to make sure that it didn't spread through out his body.

They cut out a round circle of about 2 1/2 inches (sorry if this is too graphic) in diameter, and sewed in some gauze to keep the wound open. They didn't close it up because they wanted to test the edges to make sure they went deep enough. Well, 3 days later we recieved a call, and it was good news, the cancer didn't spread through his body, and they had removed all of the cancer in his head. Ahhhh, relief!! So, back to the hospital for his second surgery to close it up. When I walked back with the nurse to see Matt after the surgery I wan't prepared for what they had actually done to him. I thought they would just sew the hole up, but they had cut a N shape incision that consumed the whole left side of his head with 20 staples. I wasn't prepared for how big his wound was going to be, and it looked so incredibly painful. I couldn't believe that they told me it wasn't supposed to be covered up. I had to be the nurse and clean it twice a day, and put antibiotic ointment on it. The skin kept dying, and Matt had to make trips to St. George to get the dead skin cut out. Eventually it healed up, and everything turned out good. His Dr. was Dr. Kent Gardner, and he was so good!!

Matt was off work for 7 weeks healing, and during this time he had decided for sure that he was going to go back to school. He applied to Weber State, and The Unversity of Utah. He was accepted into both, but chose U of U.

May 2008

The kids really loved Kanab, especially when the pool opened, and the weather was amazing. There was a park near by that we enjoyed going to. Our favorite place to eat was the lunch special at Lotsa Motsa, or Escobar's Mexican Restaraunt. We love to eat out, who doesn't??? If you are passing through try one of the two!! I also knew I would miss my friends, Valene Beardall and Terri Schumann. The kids made good friends too, but we all knew it was time to move on.

We feel really blessed, because Matt qualified for Vocational Rehab to pay for all of his schooling. During May he went through testing and paper work to get into this wonderful program. We were excited that we had an apartment waiting for us on Campus at the U of U. June would be our last month in the amazing town Kanab.

June 2008

Packing, packing, and more packing! We planned on moving to SLC so we packed our stuff up. We were going to take our Expedition up to Matt's parent's house early so we didn't have to worry about hauling a car behind the U Haul. It totally broke down, and it's sitting in Kanab waiting to be fixed.............still!

Matt went in for a PET SCAN of his whole body. Dr. Gardner wanted to make sure that cancer hadn't spread to any other parts of Matt's body or organs. Good news again, it didn't spread. We were lucky that it was removed when it was. Melonoma is a silent killer if it goes undetected, so GO get your moles checked, NOW!

Brooklyn and London went to St.George to stay with Jon for the summer. They only lasted 10 days......I was glad because I missed them so much. My sister, Sarah took our rabbit Oreo (who lost his wife Licorice in a dog attack) along with their son, Uno. I think she's regretting it, but THANKS Sarah! At the end of the month we loaded up the U Haul and we were off on our new journey from the BOONIES to the BIG CITY!

July 2008

We were pleasantly surprised with our new home. Nice neighbors, and a giant park right outside our door! I was glad that everyone was so nice, because Matt still worked full time at the Sheriff's Office until school started in the fall. I wasn't prepared for the obstacles that would come my way when he was gone. He would go for a couple of weeks at a time leaving me without a car so I would stock up on groceries. I got pneumonia and plueracy, Hailey got strep, Brooklyn had an ear infection and Jocelyn had to get stitches. I would have never survived with out the nice neighbors that helped me when Matt was working. Matt's Mom helped us out a lot, and checked on us the whole time. I want to tell everyone that helped our family out THANKS!

August 2008

We celebrated Brooklyn's 10th Birthday on the 8th. We had an exciting party with friends and family. I looked up on the internet how to make an ice-cream cake. MMMM it was simply scrumptious, so now everyone in the family asks for it for their Birthday. We missed Matt like crazy, but we knew eventually he would be home more.

School started for Matt and the girls. I started a new job working for the U of U as a custodian.

September 2008

London turned 7 years old on the 6th. She loves all the girls her age that live by us, so she had a fun party with them. Everything turned so hectic once school started, and days went by so fast. The school the girls go to is amazing, and the teachers care so much about the kids education. Brooklyn has improved so much that her teacher is amazed. London is doing so well at sounding out words that I can't spell talk to Matt anymore because she can figure out what I am saying.

Hailey started Headstart this month, and she is coming out of her "no talking" phase, I think. She is a little genius, with an excellent memory!

October 2008

Hailey turned 4 on the 14th of this month. We had a joint Birthday party with her Grandpa Alan, who's Birthday is the day before hers. She missed his b-day by 2 1/2 hours. The girls had a fun Halloween trick or treating with their cousins, and visiting their Grandma's and Grandpa's. Thier Great Grandma Siddoway took them through 5 of her neighbors backyards. They all got together and made Halloween Spooky Yards.

Brooklyn: Devil

London: Rodeo Queen

Hailey: Pregnant Mommy

Jocelyn: Pink Poodle

I think this was the funnest Halloween yet!

November 2008

The kids and I started Polish lessons this month. Matt already speaks it so he doesn't get lessons. We have a friend that is from Poland and she teaches us twice a week.

Someday we want to go there, and be able to speak a few words. I loved having some extra days off of work during Thanksgiving break. We went to Great Grandma Siddoways house for a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner. We had it with Matt's side this year. The kids made turkeys out of pinecones, and magnets. They have a wonderful Grandma Holley that always has a fun project up her sleeve.

I turned 30 this year, and to tell you the truth I feel 20!

I was reunited with my brother Riley, who I hadn't seen in 10 years. I really missed him.

December 2008

I can't believe that 2009 is gone! We had such an amazing Christmas. It really was our best Christmas ever! Riley decided to come to our house on Christmas Eve. We all went ice-skating, and all of the kids loved it. Later that night we re-enacted the Nativity Scene the best we could with small kids. We headed outside for some late night sledding, after all we do have the best hills for it right outside. We made sure to have plenty of creamy, rich, hot chocolate waiting for us when we were done. Riley decided to spend the night with us so he could see the kids open up their presents. We left some pumpkin cake w/cream cheese frosting for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer.

What a great present for me to see Riley since I didn't know if I would ever see my brother again, and I got him back for Christmas.

Matt has continued to work for Washington County as a Reserve Officer, which means he went part-time.

I can't believe the year is gone, but we are excited to start another great one full of amazing memories. Go 2009! Go UTES!!