WOW, Where did the time go?!?!

I guess that saying, "Time flies when you are having fun!", holds true! Erik and I have been married for 10 years today and we are having so much fun that I can't believe it has been 10 years!

On a side note:
Karlee asked me this morning how we have been married for so long. After all, to her, 10 years is twice her lifetime.

A simple, innocent question, but one that got me thinking.

I told her that when you are younger, you have to make a decision to do it the right way! Not the way the world tells you it should be done, but the way the Lord tells you it should be done. I elaborated with kid friendly language, but you get the idea! Of course, being only 5, she didn't quite understand. It's alright though, she'll learn soon enough.

I'm so glad that we did it the right way. (Now I know that some people do it the right way and it still doesn't work out, but for my sentimental and dedicatory reasons we won't go into that.) On with the sapp...I mean, beautiful tribute!

I just wanted to share a few simple thank you's:

Thank you Honey for taking the good with the bad, and loving me anyways!
Thank you for learning really early that it's a lethal combination for me to be both tired and hungry, and trying to avoid that trap!
Thank you for just smiling and playing along when I finally come to a realization (on my own) of something that you have already realized hours, days, weeks, months or years ago.

Thank you for indulging my crazy ideas, then supporting me in whatever the outcome happens to be.

Thank you for doing your calling and anything else that is need of you, whether you volunteer or not.
Thank you for working so hard, so that we can provide for our family!

Thank you for making our bed! I know I've mentioned that one before, but it's worth repeating!

Thank you for being such a great father to our wonderful kids, and being able to bless each one.

Thank you for always finding room for the kids.

Thank you for serving your country, and for being my hero!

Thank you for 10 wonderful years of marriage and for many more to come!


Happy Anniversary
Love you Erik!

I know the SECRET!

Warning: This post contains TOP-SECRET information for Ft Gordon Eisenhower patrons!!! :)

I finally figured out the secret to being seen quickly at Eisenhower ER! Are you ready for it?

This is BIG!

It came straight from an ER doctors mouth...and from experience!

Seriously...Are you ready!?!?!?

All you have to do is...


go into a part of the hospital and pass out in front of a lot of people, and........

....WHOOSH, you are IN!

You know, I bet that would work in any hospital. Just a thought!

No, I did not pass out...my Dad did. Before you get all anxious, no worries, my Dad is fine. It's really actually kind of funny and amazing all in one. First you have to know that my Dad has almost died 4 times. SERIOUSLY! Four times!Obviously, his work on this earth is not finished, because he has miraculously been saved each time. Not that him passing out means he was close to death or anything, but it's one of those situations that could have progressed to a SERIOUS problem had it not been addressed. Alright, here is the story:

A couple days after we got back from Disney World my Dad picked up the stomach /intestinal flu. Yeah great fun! After two days, my Dad was feeling better but he had been stuck in the house and was going stir crazy, so I took him with me to the store. He was really dizzy when he would stand up, so we specifically went to get some Gatorade, knowing that he was dehydrated. After the store, I told him that I needed to pick up a prescription, and offered to take him home first. He decided to come along, so we went to Eisenhower and sat in their oh-so comfortable seats, and WAITED! Those of you familiar with Eisenhower Pharmacy fully understand. Anyways, after I got my prescription (40 minutes later), we were ready to go. I had run into a few friends while waiting and had offered to take my friend Brandi home so her husband wouldn't have to come back. My Dad was feeling particularly dizzy and light headed, so I told him to wait at one of the benches while I went to get the car. On our way out, some guy chases us down and tells me that my father passed out. It takes me a second to realize what he was saying, and then I booked it back inside. As soon as I got in there, I find like 6 Medics/nurses helping my Dad into a wheelchair and insisting that he go to the ER to be checked out. They start bombarding me with questions about his health and before I can even realize it we are being whisked through the ER waiting room (FULL of people BTW) and back into what they call "the bay". This all happened within about 3 minutes. My poor friend Brandi was left in the waiting room, probably wondering how she is going to call her husband to come and get her, since she forgot her cell phone. She was super sweet about it. No worries though, I did sneak out to see her and let her call her husband, so she wouldn't be there forever.

My Dad was famous at Eisenhower that day. Apparently, when my Dad passed out, one of the workers saw it and called a Code Blue. After that, everyone kept saying, "Oh, you are the code blue!", or some variation of that. Every single DR, Nurse, Medic...you name it. So finally, I'm like "What does code Blue mean?" Code Blue means that someone is either dying or dead. LOL, not quite! Funny huh?!?! Apparently, the person who called it was a little overly excited, but it sure woke up everyone at the hospital. I was hearing stories about how medics and nurses on the other floors were already on their way to the Pharmacy before they cancelled it. The medic in the ER told us that when the Code Blue was called, they stood there for a split second wondering what to do, because code blue is a very rare call to hear. The staff who responded where so awesome and nice. The DR, medics and RN's who took care of him did an excellent job. And my Dad was thoroughly impressed with everything....almost. We did have to wait in the ER for 4 hours after they decided to admit him before they cleared everything for his admission to a different floor. It's all good, if they had whisked us off to his room right away I probably would have passed out! Oooo, then they would have had their 2nd Code Blue in one day! That would have probably been too much!


But seriously, we were just very blessed that my Dad got the treatment that he needed when he needed it. (Even if he didn't know that he needed it.) Thank goodness he passed out in a hospital, and not at the store. Thank goodness that we caught it early enough that it only took 24 hours to "fix", and thank goodness that the medic refused to let him just get back up and walk out, and he insisted that they check him out!

Thanks to everyone that was concerned and checking up on us. We appreciate your friendships and concern! My parents are back to their vacation and my Dad is feeling "like a million bucks!"
So that's some of the fun that we had this week. That and the flu going though more people in the family. Oh the FUN!

Last Minute Vacation!

OK, so if you haven't heard by now, we went to Florida last week. In fact, we just got home last night. We spent the week going to Sea World and Disney World. (Along with the rest of Brazil apparently...Wow, there were hundreds and hundreds of teenagers from Brazil!)

If you are saying to yourself..."I didn't know they were going...I can't believe they didn't tell me!" Don't feel bad. We found out about the new military deal to Disney World on Wednesday and booked our hotel on Thursday and left on Sunday after church. It was a really quick decision. We had the opportunity and we took it. It just happened that Erik had the week off last week, because he wasn't allowed to take leave during Christmas. My parents were coming into town and Erik had already asked for that week off, so we could spend some time together. Erik never gets or takes time off, so they gave it too him. We already had a trip to Charleston, SC planned, but we changed it to Florida when we found out about the deal. Man are we glad we did, We had SO MUCH FUN!

We spent Monday in Sea World and had A BLAST! It was cool enough that you didn't want to get wet, but warm enough that if you weren't wet you were fine. Hence, no splash zone for us. :(
The Shamu show was amazing, and the Sea Lion show was hilarious, and the Dolphin show was beautiful. The kids loved everything about it. They especially loved going from one ride to the other with NO WAITING! Oh, and apparently, my Monkey-girl Karlee, who is ALWAYS climbing on everything, is afraid of Heights.

Go Figure!

On Tuesday, we went to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

As soon as we got there we took pictures and went to the Dumbo ride. There were tons of people there and we were waiting in line for about 30 minutes. Then it started to sprinkle. We stopped to eat, and it started to rain. Within the next few hours, most of the people had LEFT!

WHOOO HOOOO!!!!!

We went from one ride to the next with little to NO WAITING! It was so stinkin awesome!



That is how to do Disney World, in the rain! Just make sure you buy a poncho before you go, they charge you an arm and a leg for them at the park. We went on every ride that we wanted. I just wish we would have met more of the characters when we had the chance, because it was packed the rest of the week. That night my parents got there. They had flown into Alabama, where they served their mission for our church. Then they drove to Orlando and met us there for the next 4 days of Disney World.

On Wednesday, we all went to the Animal Kingdom.

It was really fun, but it closes really early, so we had a hard time trying to fit everything in. Sadly, most of us had to ditch out on the parade to go to the two biggest rides, but I was glad that we did, because instead of waiting for an hour or more it was more like 20 minutes or less. Elizabeth is my little dare devil. She loved the roller coasters and went on EVERY ride that she was big enough for.

On Thursday, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

This was my most frustrating park by far. It was really awesome, but unfortunately without me realizing it, Thursday was the only night that week that they were performing Fantasmic.
If you didn't get there 90 minutes before the performance you didn't get a seat. So not only did we have to cut things short to show up there at 5:30 and get our seat, we also had to fight with the thousands of people who came to that park specifically to see that show too. HOLY COW! There were so many people there!
We also had to wait in line for the Toy Story Mania ride, (which BTW, is totally awesome...we loved it) for an hour and a half. It would have been nice to Fast Pass that, but I hadn't quite figured that out yet.
I was only frustrated with that park because I didn't get to go on the two biggest rides that they have there, the Tower of Terror and the Rocking Roller coaster. I've heard that those rides are the best, so please have pity on me and don't tell me again...and again...how awesome those rides are, and how I missed out! Thanks! But at least we saw Fantasmic, which my kids LOVED!

On Friday, we went to Epcot.

By this time, I had FINALLY figured out the fast passes. We did Soarin' and Mission:Space with Fast Passes. It was SOOOOOO nice to not wait in line for 60+ minutes...with very restless, tired, cranky kids! We did all the rides we wanted and headed off to the Countries and had to cut it short, because not only was my Dad tired, but my kids were so tired and cranky. They are not used to such a busy and intense schedule. We took them home and Erik and I went back for the rest of the night. We visited a few more countries and saw the fireworks, then headed back to the hotel.

On Saturday, we went back to the Magic Kingdom...which was packed!

But luckily, as I mentioned before, I figured out the fast passes! My parents took the kids to stand in line at a popular ride, while Erik and I went to the opposite side of the park and picked up Fast Passes for another popular ride. Then Erik and I booked it back across the park and met back up with them before they got to the front of their line. It was awesome! We did that for most of the popular rides, and then kept our eye out for characters to meet.
We left a little early to get some rest before heading back for the parade, fireworks, and late night. I really needed the rest, but my kids as usual wouldn't rest, or obey, so we were a little late getting back to the park. As a result, we missed most of the parade, which bummed me out, because it was really cool. We did see the fireworks though. Then we went on 2 more rides and then we had to head home, because my family was super tired. I, however, was ready to go until 11...but oh well!

We drove home on Sunday and got in last night. Thank goodness, we have Monday off, we needed a break after our vacation!:)