BUSY DECEMBER.

December has been very busy. I thought that I would do a little catch up...

Ellie has had many Irish Dance performances this month and I think that she is quite cute when she is up on stage performing. Ellie loves to perform - I love to watch her.

When Don & Sarah were home for Thanksgiving, Don accidentally broke one of my photography lights. He felt bad about it so he bought me a whole new set of lights! What a brother-in-law I have. I always tell him that he is a suck up and I get tired of it, but in this case I have decided when he is doing the sucking up to me, it's not too bad of a trait to have. The lights that he got were actually twice as nice of lights as I had before. I really could have just bought a replacement part for the one that he broke. I feel really bad that he spent so much and wouldn't let me give them back (I did try to not accept them). So I of course pulled them out and put them to work. I was playing around with the light and decided to take some pics. My only subjects available were Cody's kids. I say CODY'S, because when they act like this they are for sure Cody traits that are coming out. Here is one of the awesome lights in action. THANKS DONNY!!!

Imagine how good it will look when I whip out both of the lights.

Earlier today I was running late to a baby shower and when I went out to get in my car this is what I saw...
I had to go back in and get my camera and capture this one. Seriously, these two are out of control. Zoey was standing because Cody was standing. When Cody sat down, Zoey sat down.
Zoey loves Cody and some times I think that Cody would rather hang out with his dog than the rest of us. At least doing this activity together they don't bring home anything that is dead. My sidewalks looked good too. Thanks Cody!

One last little note. After the baby shower I ran some other errands and kept thinking that I needed to get home to clean my house for the upcoming busy week and family coming to town. When I got home I was SHOCKED! Cody and the kids had cleaned the entire house. I literally had to keep from crying. I might finally be getting him trained after all. It only took 10 years to get to this point. Imagine how good of a husband he will be in 10 more...

McDonald's Christmas Tree

My blogs are never as long as Emily's however, I just wanted to share a couple of pictures with you.

Here is a picture of my very frugal McDonald's Christmas Tree.

I used Apple Pie boxes and fry boxes to decorate this year.

Here is Skylar getting ready to go to work with her dad.

Isn't she the cutest McDonald's employee that you have ever seen?

Amber 's Talent!

Well, Amber has been very busy as you can see. She has become quite the little crocheter. I am pretty impressed with her latest work. She made the pillow for Mom and I think that it is rather cute. I am a little confused at why I didn't get one also. It would be pretty cute in my living room, but I'm not dropping any hints or anything. I did receive the cute eye patch though. Amber has made it her personal mission to find me a cute, stylish eye patch. I had told her that I had already looked everywhere and that it was not possible to find any that weren't dorky. People have attempted to design good ones, but in my opinion they have failed. Amber must have finally given up her search and decided to design her own. Wow! I had made myself a leather leopard print one that is rather cute for around the house, but this one by far tops it. I think it is great!!! THANKS A TON AMBER!!! (Tate calls me the hippie-pirate when I wear it.)

I bet that you are all shocked to see my pic on here. I have resisted putting one on for several months now, but I decided that the new patch warranted a picture. I can also give a progress update...

M.R.S.A.- Lesion #3 is down to a small band aid. You can't even see it in this picture. Yay! I am almost done with the meds. Well, the bad ones anyway. Still will have the preventative stuff. I can look forward to a few good weeks of feeling well. We all need to send me some good vibes that the next lesion will appear somewhere other than my face. Or my butt. Or........just send some good vibes my way please.

Palsy- I am on day 64 of having the palsy. I can say that I took a big step today. I went in public without an eye patch on. I have been to the store a few times without one and it is kind of fun to see people stare. I use to be self conscious about it, now I think that it is funny that they have the guts to stare, but not the guts to ask what's wrong. I just let them wonder. HAHA! I went to the movies the other night with my parents and kids, it was dark and no one was there. Today was different. I went to the Festival of Trees. I saw several people that I knew and they were all very nice about it. I guess that I should give people more credit. I might be venturing out patchless a little more often now. So if you see me....I am NOT stoned, I just have a little eye problem. Cody thinks that I look stoned without the patch on, cuz it makes my other eye not open as well. The question lately everywhere I go is to Patch or not to Patch. Mom always answers with the patch. Cody prefers no patch. I think that Cody likes people thinking that he has a druggie wife. Gotta love Cody. Mom thinks that it is best to look like I just had eye surgery. I am starting to think that I might need counseling over this issue. Sal would probably be all for that as I have mentioned in earlier post! Just kidding Mom! So, if anyone can give me there opinion on this matter, I would appreciate it.

I have to stop writing such long post. It is December....no one has time for my rambling. SORRY!!!

Thanks again Amber!!!

Thanksgiving.

We had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. Bill and Grandma came. It was a small group, but we had a nice meal. Good food.

Dad was assigned to the kids table - Ellie was the one that made the place cards and put them out on the tables, so that was no surprise.

After dinner, Mom had 80 invitations to make for her ward Christmas Breakfast. So Sarah decided to make everyone help. I could not believe that they all did. Even Cody and Don were part of the crew. We whipped those invites out rather quickly. I got laughing so hard about the fact that Cody was cutting out the paper and the best part was that Grandma got laughing really hard with me. She didn't even know what we were laughing at. I have not seen her laugh like that for a long time. It felt really good to know that she was having a good time.

This pic is blurry, but it was funny cuz Dad got stuck with the little kid scissors that were hurting his hand and he was trying to get the most done. It can't be anything, but a competition in the Couch fam.

I love this picture of grandma. She was very with it all day, for the most part, and it was good to see her have a nice time. She is so pulling the Grandma Elva face in this one!!!

CONGRATS TATEN!!!

Tate has spent more than half of his little life in Speech Therapy. Today we were let out of the speech program (for now anyway, we might have to go back in a year). I say WE because it was almost as much work for the Mom as it was for Tater! Hooray - no more speech homework!!! Tate has worked REALLY HARD to deserve this. I am very proud of him! He informed me on the way home from school that he is pretty sure that he has earned a KING SIZE Hersheys bar. "It will say KING SIZE on the front Mom" is what he told me. I guess I am headed for the store when Cody gets home!!!

***The pic is of Tate and Teacher Michelle (Michelle Skaggs). We love Teacher Michelle and owe her a big Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you.

Gratitude.

I have had a rough couple of weeks and have decided that I have officially hit rock bottom. I am sick of taking meds, my credit card number got stolen - fun, my eye doesn't work, and the medical bills just keep arriving. But the good news is that the only way to go from the bottom is up, and I would like to think that I am headed in that direction.

In TaiChi I learn and teach all the time about gratitude journals. Do I have one - NO - should I - YES! It is important to remember what we are blessed with. It is good for our energy to be full of gratitude. So tis the season, here is my gratitude journal for today...

I am grateful for:
My Kids - they have put up with more than any child should have to these last few months, they are troopers.
My Husband - Now if he would just get a job!!!;)
My Home - I love my little house with Christmas lights on it. It is so cute!
My Parents - They have done above and beyond what they should have lately. I am blessed with AWESOME parents whom I will never be able to repay.(Just ask my Dad!:))
My Health - It could be so much worse. I'm lucky.
My Friends & Family- I know that I have good friends and fam, but recently I have realized how nice it is to have people that are so supportive and truly care about me. I will never get all the Thank-you's written that I need to write. Thank-you!

So this is a little mushy of a post, but it is fitting for the season. I am getting excited for this whole Christmas Season. I am usually just stressed out about it, but I have learned recently that there is no reason to stress about the little things that we can't change. We need to enjoy every day because we never know what we will have to deal with tomorrow. ENJOY YOUR DAY!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

DID YOU KNOW?

Ellie did this. Did you know I am in the HONORS READING and MATH? It is a challenge for me though because I am only a 4 th grader, so I am not so good at it. I can't wait for Christmas too because I haven't had a present holiday in a whole year which to me seems like forever! Maybe you don't want Christmas to come around, but I sure can't wait because I have a 11 thing wish list. You probably thoght I am kidding but I am not.

Mom's Mandatory Assignment

Hi Family,

I know I have resisted this blogging thing as long as I could. But I have to give in because I have an assignment for the family.
As you are all aware, we now have a professional photographer in our midst. So I have a MANDATORY assignment for everyone in the family. This will be the first Christmas in years that we will all be together. Actually the first time ever. So I guess you know what I am getting at. Please come with a black shirt and jeans for everyone in your family (pets included). There will be a penalty for not attending. No Christmas for you!

Miller Halloween

Well I don't have as many pictures as you guys, but here is what I do have...

Here is my charm school witch, my knight, and my little golfer!!!

Church

This Sunday the kids went to church with Grandma and Grandpa. They were so excited. I think that it is funny that they find it so much fun to go to someone else's church. I don't see that much enthusiasm every Sunday for our church. I think that they were forgetting what church was, so it was probably a good thing. I am sure we have been put on the inactive list by now. Being on the inactive list however does not stop them from giving me a new calling. I am now officially the 3rd ward home, family, and personal enrichment leader. HAHA! Any calling that takes that long to say is too much for me. Cody and I did get a good laugh out of it though. My responsibility is to help all the women in the ward improve their homes, families, and theirself. Is anyone else laughing yet. I am not sure who received the inspiration for that one. They must not have been to my home recently. I am going to miss the Primary very much. I liked being able to keep an eye on Tate. I very often would have to stand up from behind the piano to give him THE look. I guess what I don't know, I can pretend doesn't happen. I am taking all suggestions I can get for the new job. So no one hold back on me.

Mom got Emma and Ellie new church clothes in Utah. Look at Emma's cute shoes!

Ellie's eyes really freak me out in this pic.

By the way, my CT Scan came back clear. It is always reassuring to know that my brain is functioning properly. I did however have to get lesion #3 drained on Friday. It is amazing how sick I am and then they open it up and by then end of the day I was feeling pretty good considering I had a drain in the side of my face. This too shall pass!

Halloween Cont.

Mom emailed me this pic of her and Chris Funk. I think that it is pretty good.

Halloween!

I was a dud this year for Halloween, but the kids still had a good time. I have to give Julie and Aunt Cheryl credit for that. I was not up for much, but they got to do all the regular trick or treating spots. I layed on the couch. I will not get the Mother of the Year Award for 2008, we will have to shoot for it in 2009.

We had a pretty small group this year, but they didn't mind.

Here is Dad cleaning up after everyone left. I don't really care for Halloween, but my favorite part is that we always end up at Mom's for soup after the trick or treating. Mom can make some dang good soup. I always have to have a little of both because I can't choose just one.
Mom decided to be June Cleever this year. I'm not sure if she pulled it off. I think that Julie was the only one that figured it out. She sure was cute though.

I think that Emma loved mom's wig more than she loved her own costume. Maybe next year Emma can be June!!!

Update!

So here's my yesterday update... Mom, Emma, and I went down to Salt Lake Monday night. It was kind of nice to go the night before. I am not a morning person as you all know and it was nice to get a little sleep in before the big day. I had finally gotten the steroids down to the point that I could get some rest. I woke up yesterday with M.R.S.A. lesion #3. This time it hit the right side of my face. The staph must want to even me out or something. Bad way to start off my day. The pain and pressure that comes with the lesion gives me a constant pulsing headache. So I get to Dr. Daynes office and he left a patient to come over and see what I looked like. He took one look and just shrugged. Now he knows how I feel every morning when I look in the mirror. So since the steroids didn't work, it was time for my botox. Nine or so injections later (he was going to town) I made it through that one. I can say looking back that it was not too bad, but I have nice little bruises everywhere that he injected. They go along well with my palsy eye and the growing lesion on my face!!! Dr. Daynes got me an appointment with Dr. Mooers again since the M.R.S.A. was back, so I went down to see her. Luckily she felt that we caught this lesion fast and that we won't have to drain it. She only opened it enough to get a culture so that wasn't too bad. She did however put me back on the heavy duty meds - HOORAY!!! What this means is that the toilet and I become best friends again. You tend to be a little hesitant to take medicine when the warning is... CAUTION: May cause fatal diarrhea. Well there you go. Take your pick, would I rather them put on my obituary that I died of a flesh eating bacteria or diarrhea? If either happens, someone had better come up with a dang good story for me. So then, it was on to the worst part of my day (no I have not hit the worst yet). I went over to LDS hospital to get my CT Scan done. The guy that was doing the scan was a complete idiot!!! He was a little on the slow side but I figured it can't be too hard to take pictures of my brain. I mean why would they think that they needed someone smart for that one. HMMMM!!! He informed me that he needed to put an I.V. in to put the dye through me. I have learned in the past few weeks that my veins leave a lot to be desired. They are small and not very cooperative. So here comes the doof at me with a needle. He was stumbling around, so I pointed out my best vein for him on my right arm. I kept thinking don't screw it up cuz it is your best bet. Well, of course he screwed it up. He kept poking and moving the needle around in there and it wasn't working. I would like to think that I am a pretty patient person and well tolerating of pain, but I finally just said OWW!!! He says " Oh, did that hurt." That was all he said. What a dink. Then he gets the lady that knows what she is doing in the room and she finally got the I.V. in my left arm.(Why didn't we just start with her) While she was doing so, I turned away, cuz it makes the whole needle thing better for me, but I looked at the right arm which was covered in blood. The dink was busy trying to clean it up, but I about passed out. I must have been spurting blood everywhere from the looks of it. So now I'm getting to the bad part... It was finally time to have the scan. The dink says through the microphone, "Here comes the dye, it will be warm." At this point I am thinking, "How nice, I am a little cold and have the chills from almost passing out." Now imagine how fast your blood runs through your body, then imagine warm rushing sensations going through that fast. Not good. I just laid there thinking that I was peeing my pants over and over again. I crossed my legs, but the dink says through the mic "stay still" My only option was to do the strongest kegels I could and hope for the best. Then my tongue got hot and I wanted to spit it out. I promtly went to the restroom afterwards and did an underwear check. (At 29 years old, that is pathetic) All was clear. Okay, I had had enough fun for one day so Mom, Emma, and I got the heck out of there and after picking up my prescription, headed straight for Cafe Rio. I ate every bite. My shredded beef taco was so good that it almost made everything okay.

The moral of this story is.......

When you think that it can't get any worse, hold on, IT CAN!!!

When I find out if I am brain damaged or growing a tumor or something, I will let you know.

AHOY MAITY!!!

We had our Garrard Halloween Party on Sat. It was fun to see everyone dressed up. Kalli entertained the kids and Kathy made dinner, so it was a night off for me.

ARRRGGGH!!

Taten cracked me up. He was sooo excited to get his costume on and once it was on he was in full character. Every time I looked at him he was posing like a pirate or sounding like a pirate!
We were the pirate family of course. I was proud of my kids for all going along with the theme. It is pretty pathetic when you plan your costumes around a closed eye, but it payed off. We won the $20 prize! I am not sure if we won because of the sympathy vote or not, but we'll take it! Show me the LOOT! I do have to say that Cody makes for a pretty convincing pirate!!! ARRRGGHH!!!

Pumpkin Patch!

Mom took the kids and I to the Pumpkin Patch in Paul on Friday. The kids didn't have school, so it was fun to go early instead of at night when we usually go. I love the pumpkin patch, but have not had it in me to go until now. After looking at Alicia's blog, I was itching to get there. The kids love the pumpkin patch and picking out their own stuff. I have to say that the Paul Pumpkin Patch is the best one around. I give the kids a $1 budget and they get to pick whatever they want. The total cost for all the pumpkins was $5.50. Not bad! Ellie was smart enough to do the math though and quickly informed me that if that was the total, I had gone over my $1 spending limit. I told her that sometimes the Mom gets to spend more than $1 so that our steps are full. THE OLDER MY KIDS GET, THE LESS I GET AWAY WITH!!!

Here they are showing off their purchases. By the way, we don't really do our hair or get too cute when we have no school days.

The kids arrange the pumpkins on the steps themselves. I learned last year to not move them, because they always end up right back where the kids want them anyways.

This is a Prickle. Ellie loved it and just had to have it. It is pretty weird. It is soft, not prickly at all. A bargain @ $0.25.

Just a little more trauma!

Warning*** This is a really long post and probably pretty boring for most people. You are not all expected to read it. I think that I wrote it more for myself and my records than anything.

Alright, here I go. I have been avoiding writing anything on the blog about my current situation, but I decided that I would write it all down to update everyone and then maybe I don't have to keep telling the story over and over...

Now there are a few rules to reading this post. If you read, you are not allowed to write a poor you or hope you get feeling better soon comment on the end. This is not a sympathy post, but an informative one. Okay, now that we have that crap out of the way...

So, you all know about the M.R.S.A. staph infection that I dealt with on my leg. Well, I healed up from that and had about one good week in life, then it hit me again. This time it was on my face. I woke up one morning to what looked like the biggest zit I have ever had and believe me I have had some good zits in life (aestheticians should never call them zits, the word pimple just doesn't get the point across though). Anyway, my left eye was also swollen shut. It was not the same feeling as when we were little and always got swollen eyes from mosquitoes when we slept out on the tramp. It was a feeling that is a bit claustrophobic and we all know how I deal with claustrophobic situations. Luckily, I had already had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Blauer that morning and was able to get right in and get it taken care of. Dr. Blauer was not able to find the spot that he needed to open that day, so I had to wait until the next morning. I went in and he was able to determine the best spot to cut my cheek open and drain it. I luckily caught this lesion early this time instead of waiting a week or two (learned my lesson on that one). Now I will have to admit that there are perks to having your face cut open and having the husband there to watch. Cody was very helpful and sympathetic after being there for that one. Dr. Blauer was able to use a lot less packing to drain it this time, but was concerned about my eye not opening and sent me to Twin to an Opthamalogist. Dr. Hurst checked to make sure that my eye had not been affected by the infection and sent me on my way. I guess the fact that it didn't open wasn't a big deal to him. Then the next week was filled with everyone telling me that I needed to go to a specialist and get healed and everyone around me (you all know who you are) became M.R.S.A. experts. It cracked Cody and I up. Well, Sarah decided that she was just going to handle the situation herself and she found an internal infectious disease doctor in SLC. She then called and set up the appointment for the next day. Sarah doesn't mess around. Dad called and got Wayne to give me a referral and I was on my way. I learned that I have the external form of M.R.S.A., instead of the internal form. The staph bacteria is colonized on my skin and will always be there. The trick to it is just a lot of preventative stuff. At first thought it is pretty gross to think about, but everyone has bacteria on them, I just get the fun kind. Now to get rid of all the myths out there. I am not contagious and neither is my home. Dr. Mooers has assured me of that. The only way that you are going to get it is by touching one of my wounds and I am pretty sure that I am not going to let anyone get near the first lesion site, and I have always had facial touching issues (no one needs to touch my face, but me) so I can almost guarantee that I will not pass the infection on to you. I really enjoyed going to a specialist. Dr. Mooers is very informative and smart and it feels good to be in her care. She has told me that as soon as they find a cure for this, I will be notified. Good to know!

It has taken me a long time to get to this part, but on to my latest adventure... I went to Dr. Mooers on Wed. of this week to get my cheek checked on and make sure that it was all healed up. I got a clean bill of health as far as the infection goes on my face. I am happy to report that the scar is minimal and that there will be no need for plastic surgery. So all of you that were willing to donate to my plastic surgery fund... Thank-you anyway, but your donations will not be needed at this time!!! I am happy to tell you that. Because as most of you know I am about the most anti-plastic surgery person there is. I have spent years trying to educate clients on other ways to take care of things than going under a knife. I was definitely going to have to swallow my pride on that one. Good thing I dodged the bullet. The only remaining issue is that I can still not open my eye. I have tried to hold it open, prop it open, Cody has yelled at it to open. We are both getting sick of it. "Just open eye, open". Dr. Mooers can not find any reason why it is related to the staph infection, so she sent me upstairs to an eye surgeon. Meet Dr. Daynes. Yes, another doctor, I have lost count at this point. Dr. Daynes has impressed me so far. He seems very eager to help me. Cody thinks that I only like him so much because he is young and cute. I will admit to that being a perk, but his personality has made the situation easier. Mom, Sarah, Emma (dressed in her new pirate costume) and I all went back into the room with Dr. Daynes. He said everyone come on back. I said you want the whole herd, sure he said. After giving us crap about being from Idaho and calling us Idahoeians (yes it should be Idahoans. I know) he gave up his lunch hour to help me. He examined me a little bit, brought in his senior partner (who by the way has pants that are too high and a tie that is too short, after thinking about it, the tie must have been made for Tate, because with the pants being as high as they were, the thing was still not long enough. Nice guy though.). The two of them would do a few things, and then say that they needed to leave the room and talk. Now after a few times of this it gets a little nerve racking. Dr. Daynes would say over and over "you just don't see 3rd nerve palsy everyday." 3rd nerve palsy is what they think that I have. It is when the 3rd cranial nerve to your brain is not functioning right. It paralyzes parts of your face. The 3rd nerve is in charge of your eyelid. Hence the fact that I can't open it. I show some signs of 7th nerve palsy too, but not very many. The doctors are not quite sure what caused it or how they are going to fix it at this point. They are pretty thorough and I have at least made improvements, because I think that the last guy that checked me out thought that I was faking. I promise that I am not faking. Who would fake 3rd nerve palsy. Didn't even know what it was until Wed. Sarah thinks that I am faking for the attention and for Mom and Dad to keep coming over and clean my house. Now I will admit that it was nice having my parents clean my house, but I would rather not have palsy and clean it myself!!! Then Mom points out that she thinks that it is all in my head and that I just need a shrink. Okay, so Sal thinks that shrinks can fix everything (we won't even get into the Austin story here :) ). That was a good one!!! Dr. Daynes laughed that one off. I am glad that I have finally found someone that is going to help me. I am definitely going crazy here. The senior partner kept poking his head in and saying "It's going to be okay, we are going to figure this out". About the 3rd time he said that one, I started to worry that he is just trying to reassure himself. Dr. Daynes put me on steroids. I have decided that I don't think that I would make a very good Drugi. Heavy duty drugs and I just don't mix. I have not been to sleep since Wed. night. The Prednisone keeps me wide awake. It is the weirdest feeling. I am so tired that I want to pass out, yet wide awake at the same time. It is 1:16 in the morning right now and I am still going strong. I halved my dose today after talking to Dr. Daynes about it. He said that I would be able to get some sleep that way.......hmmmmm. Maybe we will 1/4 the dose tomorrow. So now to the best part. I am going back to SLC on Tues. the 28th, for my next appointment. I will be going for BOTOX. Yes, I said it, BOTOX!!! The only thing that I am more anti about than plastic surgery is BOTOX. I have told sooo many people not to use it for soooo long now. Why inject poison into your face when there are other ways to improve your looks. There are other chemicals, Restaline, etc. There is no need to use the B word. I am now going to insert my foot into my mouth and receive my botox injections on Tues. proudly. I still don't understand why you would want to put something in my paralyzed face that is known for paralyzing people faces. It is pretty comical though that I would be the one out of all of us that has to get botox done. Everyone is jealous! Does no one else have a terrible fear of needles? I am so sick of needles. If anyone else tries to take anymore blood out of my body I am going to scream. I am proud to say that when they took blood on Wed. I did not pass out. The lab techs were so proud of me. It is sad when you become good friends with the needle notsies. I have made a very long story a lot longer than I had planned on making it, but I felt like putting the whole thing out there and I have nothing else to do right now at 1:30 in the morning. Well, I could be cleaning my house, but no energy for that one. I will give Cody some credit though. He has been a trooper and has really taken on a lot more than he has ever had to. I think that he is starting to think that being the Mom is a lot of work!!!! HMMMM!!! But he has gone to the grocery store and picked up the kids and has not once complained about it, except for the time that I wrote KOTEX on the grocery list. "You owe me for this one" was all he said!!! What a man I have. So, I will try to update about my wonderful Tues. appointment after I get back from Utah. Maybe that one won't be a novel. Wish me luck! It is 2:14 in the morning... I think that I will go wake someone up to hang out with me!

Hunting!

Okay, I hate the dead animal part of hunting. I always secretly hope that Cody doesn't have good aim. I am definitely rooting for the birds as they fly away! But I love that Cody occasionally asks us to go along for the ride. I needed a day out so badly and I was glad that he put up with us. We do slow him down a bit, I think that it will be fun when Tate gets old enough to do more hunting with Cody. I am holding that day off for a little while though. I like him without a gun in his hand!

Having Fun!

Don and I went out to the west desert today to ride our bikes. It was a lot of fun. Don loves to get air on the jumps and I just like to go over them without leaving the ground. I am getting better at riding, I actually hit fifth gear today! Oh yeah, I love my pink helmet! Emily I need you to take some pics of Don while he is riding, I can't seem to get a pic of him when he is at the peak of his jump.