See ya never, tonsils!!!

When I was 15, I was all scheduled to get my tonsils removed. I went to the pre op appointment a few weeks before surgery and the doctor was checking my throat and lymph nodes. I don't remember his name... And I feel bad because he saved my life. While feign my lymph nodes, he noticed my neck was swollen. I made a few phone calls and an hour later, I was getting an US of my neck. That's when they discovered that I had Graves' Disease. Like... A pretty bad case of it. My tonsillectomy got cancelled and within weeks, I had all sorts of testing done, many hospital visits, and was given radioactive treatment to kill my over active thyroid. The doctor saved my life because...had I gone under anesthesia with my thyroid in that condition, and had it of reacted to the anesthesia, I may of not come out of surgery.

Now fast forward 10 years. I still have those tonsils. I. Hate. My. Tonsils. I get strep a couple times a year, it's not that bad, but I had tonsil stones. Don't know what they are? Google it. I got them all the time. And I was ready to be done. So...10 years later, I scheduled another tonsillectomy. 

I'm all healed up now. I took nearly 2 weeks off work and slept a lot. My throat pain was manageable. I ate a lot of soup, ice, pudding, yogurt, and...yeah, that's about it! 

The miserable part wasn't my throat. It was my ear. Apparently, your tonsils and ears share a nerve. And my left ear killed the entire time. Couldn't sleep more than a few hours. Couldn't even make it 4 hours between medicine without crying most days. 

But it's been over a month now and I'm all back to normal! I was well taken care of between Darren and my wonderful neighbor. So far, it's been nice not having them! I can't scratch my throat anymore, but I'm hoping I can retrain myself to do that haha. Goodbye, tonsils. You're not missed!

I'm back!

It's been awhile! Let's see what has happened since I last posted. Well, the coolest thing that happened was Darren went to Peru and hiked Mt. Machu Picchu! He went with 4 brothers, 2 sister in laws, and a family friend. He was gone for 10 days, which was a long time... But he had a great time!

That's Machu Picchu behind him. The hike was 4 days long. Before and after the actual trek, the did some traveling. They visited Puno, and Lima. They even got to go to the Lima Peru Temple :)

There's all the brothers. Well, minus Shawn. Not sure why he's not in the picture...

It was such a neat experience for him and I'm so glad he took advantage of the opportunity. It's a once in a lifetime trip!

Oh ya, I have a blog!

Darren and I went on a cruise a few weeks ago with some friends of ours, Whitney and Chandler, from our new ward.  It was totally spur of the moment and we had a lot of fun!  We did the Carnival 4 night cruise out of Long Beach with stops at Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico.

On Catalina, we rented electric bicycles.  They were a lot of fun!  They went pretty fast.

After that, we got ice cream and did some window shopping.

Back on the boat, Whitney and I were able to enjoy the sun and the guys had fun playing ping pong.  Whit and I thought it'd be fun to check out the sauna and steam rooms since neither of us have never been.  Gross...  We couldn't even BREATHE in the steam room!  Seriously, I was gasping for air with my towel covering my mouth trying not to gag.  I think we lasted 15 seconds in there...  As we were walking out, some lady walked in with a book.  How does that work?!  The sauna room was a littttllle better.  There was an old lady laying down in there...and it would have been really nice if she would have pulled her towel down just about an inch...please?  Thanks...  Haha.  That night was a lot of fun, it was the formal night!  Gotta love having a reason to dress up all fancy =).

Tuesday was our stop at Ensenada.  We walked around Mexico for a bit, had some lunch, and bought a couple cheap sunglasses, went to some museum type thing, then made our way back to the boat.

After dinner that night, we went to the Hasbro Game Show!  They play games like Simon Flash, Connect 4, and Sorry Sliders only...life size versions on stage.  I got picked out of the audience to play in the Simon Flash game.  My team won and got put into the finals!  I didn't win the big prize, but got Monopoly Deal Millionaire =).

After that, we checked out the Piano Bar with Marty!  This guy was insanely good on the piano!  We sat around singing a bunch of songs with Marty, from the piano classics, to Garth Brooks, to even Taylor Swift!

Wednesday was our "Fun Day at Sea"!  It was really nice sleeping in and ordering room service breakfast.  Unfortunately the sun only came out for a few hours, but we soaked up every minute of it.  We caught as many activities as we could fit in that day, and wrapped up the cruise with their rock show and a close up magic show.

Oh, I can't forget to mention Kamlesh!  This cruise, we had anytime dining.  We could go to dinner anytime between 5:30-9, which was nice.  Only...you don't automatically have the same waiter every night.  The first night, we weren't very impressed with our guy, so the next night, we had them sit us somewhere else.  That's when we got put in Kamlesh's area!  He is awesome and took good care of us!  It was fun getting to know about him throughout the cruise.  The last night, he somehow convinced Whitney and I to get up and dance with all the servers.  I think we were the only ones participating!

Anyway, it was a great week and we had a lot of fun with Whitney and Chandler.  Next cruise?  I'm thinking the Caribbean...or Alaska!!!

Christmas

*New blog look!  Long overdue, I think.*

Christmas this year was great.  My entire family was in town!  That hasn't happened since our wedding 4 years ago.  It was fun to be together, and we took advantage and got a group picture.

 All 33 of us!  

And here's the picture of all the grandkiddies.  18 total, ranging from 12 years old to 10 months!

(Keep in mind Sandra and I haven't even started having kids yet, so imagine how many there will be once everyone is done!)

We took these pictures Christmas Eve, then Darren headed over to his brother's house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner.  It was a good time.  They little always act out the nativity every year and it never disappoints!  After that, Darren and I went home and helped Heidi wrap all her kids' presents.  So...that kept us up till midnight.  At that point, we figured...we're up, lets just unwrap our gifts too!  So we did, and then we were up till 2 am playing with said gifts haha.  Christmas afternoon, we had dinner at Kristy's house and spent some more time with everyone before Joey and his family flew back to Boise.  It was a great holiday this year.  And it seems like it was forever ago!  I have a hard time believing that it was less than 3 weeks ago...

Anniversary

Darren surprised me with tickets to see Michael Buble tomorrow evening!!! So excited! I saw him a few years ago with my mom and he's hilarious. Can't wait!!! Thanks, Darren!!!

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is out anniversary. 4 years!!! Yay for us :)

Relaxing

This is what I find relaxing... Laying in bed after a long productive day watching Friends... Goodnight!

No backing out now...

It's official! No stopping now. 

No, I am not doing the marathon, just the 10k. Darren signed up for the half! Here we go!!!

Boating

This one time...Darren and I went boating with my sister Heidi, her family, and Sandra.  And we both got to try out wake surfing?  I couldn't quite get the rhythm enough to let go of the rope pulling me (and just ride with the wake) but Darren and I both got up!

So much fun!  Can't wait for next summer, hopefully we can go again!

Fall

This fall, I realized something. In my 24 years, before this October, I had never seen real fall. You know, leaves changing colors, falling, crunching under your boots, crisp in the air, fall.  And let me tell you...I'm a fan!!!

Christine Hunsaker

Years ago, there were a couple of posts on my sweet mother in law.  She passed away last month, on October 14th.  My wonderful mother-in-law went into cardiac arrest 5 short months after Darren and I got married.  She spent the next 3 1/2 years being taken care of in a nursing home in Las Vegas.  She passed away last month, on October 14th.  A few weeks before that, she had some difficulty breathing which landed her back in the hospital.  Darren and her 9 other children were able to get together one last time.  They took her off life support and she went strong for nearly 24 hours.  I unfortunately never really had the opportunity to really get to know the woman who raised my amazing husband.  Even still, I love her and will miss her dearly.  I can't wait to get to know her in the next life.  I am grateful for the life she lived, for the wonderful mother she was, for her testimony and example in living the gospel, and for raising such amazing children.  What a legacy she left behind.

The funeral service was wonderful.  All of her children sang for her, it was perfect.  Darren also spoke.  It was great to be with everyone again, even under the circumstances.  She had a wonderful life and we did our best to celebrate her.  I am grateful for the gospel and the knowledge I have of eternal families.

We love you, Mom!

(there are 4 adults and 1 little boy missing.  Love our big family <3 p="">

Camera

Darren and my anniversary is next week. He's not good at waiting, so I got to open my gift last week. He got me a camera for Christmas last week. Lately, we've been wishing we we had a zoom lens. You see, my backyard is pure wilderness. We have an owl (more on that later). We'd really like quality pictures of that owl. So...he got this bad boy!

I'm in love. Now our owl needs to come by for a visit so we can test it out. Thanks Darren! Here's it compared to my other 2 lens'

Rascal Flatts

In September 2007, Jessica (best friend turned sis in law in 08) went to a Rascal Flatts concert. Well, this September, we went again! This time, Sandra was with us. The Band Perry opened and I love them. It was a great night. Thanks for the idea, Sand!

My First NFL Game

A couple of months ago, Darren and I got to go to a Cardinals game. I'm pretty sure they played the Chargers. And I'm pretty sure it was pre season so I guess it wasn't even a real game. And we lost. Of course. But besides that, it was fun!!! Too bad most of their games are on Sunday.

Go Cards!!!

Darn blogger!

Remember how I mentioned that I *thought* I had posted very day? I had!!! My mobile blogger hadn't even posting them! Family Dinner is from yesterday. Rascal Flatts was my post from last Tuesday, and NFL Game was from Wednesday. I just missed Saturday. I feel better now... I thought I was going crazy! Haha 

Family Dinner Fun

Tonight was family dinner at our home. It always seems to get goofy. We started by comparing eachother's leg length to torso length ratio. Then arm wrestling, pull ups, planks, and baby wrestling. I love it :) enjoy! (Notice...I arm wrestle the nieces and nephews. Pathetic, Emily...)