Bug Phobia

There is ongoing joke at my Mom's house about me. You see, I HATE bugs! When I see them I freak. I know they aren't going to pick me up and carry me away or anything....but stranger things have been known to happen. I don't care what kind of bug it is I don't like them. Ants, spiders, beetles, cockroaches, centipedes..you name it, I hate it.

Well, when I was little I remember smashing this bug, and the yucky crunching noise it made. Ever since then, I am almost more afraid of killing the bug, than the bug itself. As a result....I am now the joke at my mom's house. You see, if I ever like laid on the couch and was watching t.v. or anything and I saw a bug crawling on the carpet, I would grab a big heavy book off the bookshelf and throw it on top of the bug! I figured, that way I didn't have to kill it, and I also didn't have to worry about where the bug went. In the morning often times the family would come downstairs and find 2-5 books on the floor. They knew there were bugs under every one of the books, and it was there job to dispose of them. If I saw the bug in the kitchen, the bugs would get a cup over them instead of a book.

This fact has not changed as I've gotten older. In fact, I might even be a little more scared now then I was back then.

Yesterday morning I found a centipede on my kitchen floor!!!!! Of course, it got the cup. Later I called Trevor and this is how our conversation went:

"Guess what is on the kitchen floor?"

"Um, a centipede...."

"You knew there was one there and you didn't take care of it?"

"Did you put a cup over it?"

"Yes, I did."

"I just wanted to see if you would put a cup on it."

Can you even believe that? Then later when Trevor got home he wouldn't dispose of the stupid thing. He said I was a big girl and that I could do it. I am a big girl but I just couldn't do it!!! So, as of this morning it was still there. I even thought about going and getting my brother, Kade, to go get it for me. Finally after work today, Trevor took care of it. He's my HERO!

Take your Wife to Work Day

There are lots of times that Trevor asks me if I want to ride with him in his truck during work hours. Now that it's summer break I go with him a lot more than I used to. It really is fun just to go and spend time with my husband. I have never lasted a whole day with him though. Probably because his days can last anywhere from 10 hours to 14 hours. Now that summer has hit he is even more busy than usual, so it's normally closer to the 13-14 hour range.

On Thursday night Trevor asked me if I wanted to start with him in the morning. I told him that I would, even though he was getting up at like 4 a.m. Sure enough, a little bit after 4, Trevor woke me up and asked me if I still wanted to go with him. I did, and stayed with him most of the day. Anytime I get up with him early in the morning to go, we usually see Elk between Round Valley and Alpine. Friday morning was no exception. We saw a ton! They were all over the place and not just in one spot we saw them all up and down the road. Unfortunately, my camera was too far away for most of the pictures, and then when I was able to take pictures, my battery was practically dead!

So anyway, here are some pictures from our "take your wife to work day" we had on Friday!

My Pet Peeves

On everyone's website they are always making lists of things. Most of the time I find them really funny, because you learn things you would never know. Plus, I think it's interesting to find out how people tick. But today, I am making a list of some of my pet peeves, and feel free to laugh about it, do NOT take offense. And if you are really up for it, make your own list!

1.) I really don't like when people where socks with sandals, or for that matter, like Nike sneakers with capri pants. It doesn't look good. Plus, it defeats the purpose of sandals.

2.) If you are at some place of business and have to pull out into traffic, please please please, go into the lane that is not occupied by a car already OR wait two seconds for me to pass! It is only courteous.

3.) I wish people wouldn't look into my basket when I go shopping at a grocery store. It's none of your business what I am eating, whether it be healthy or not.

4.) Feet are disgusting! So, if you are lucky enough to be a woman you can wear nail polish to make them appear slightly better. Take advantage of this people!

5.) If you don't know the words to a song, don't sing! It's not a difficult concept. I hate listening to someone grasping for words so it sounds like, "huuuu empty house, huuuu afraid to cry...." you get the point.


What are 5 things that bug you?

Healing Wounds

Okay, so many people ask about Kade and his leg that he burnt all the time. And if they don't know about it, they want to know what happened so I thought that I would give a little account of it, for those of you that have asked.

About two years ago Kade was working on his castle project for the 6th grade, when he decided he needed a break, so he went to his friend Bryce's house for a little while. After only a short time being there, my mom got a phone call from Kade saying that she needed to come get him now. She could tell something was wrong right away.

When she picked him up, he had on another pair of shorts, and his jeans in his hands. When she saw his leg she couldn't believe it. Apparently there were weeds burning, and Bryce had a cup of gasoline. It started to get hot, I guess, and scared him because it was burning his fingers so he tossed the gas. Unfortunately when he did, he threw it on Kade and his jeans caught on fire. Kade's shoe began to melt so he kicked it off and then tried to do stop, drop and roll. It wasn't putting the fire out, and from what he has said, he was screaming for help. He began to throw dirt on his pants and leg and then pat it out, and that finally stopped the fire.

My mom called a local doctor and he came and looked at Kade's leg and then told them to get to Show Low asap. On the way there, my mom turned on the air conditioning to try and help ease the heat of the burn. The doctors in Show Low had to stick these fat needles almost all the way through his little leg to test the degree of the burns. Around his ankle his skin was white and gray because it was so bad. He had second and third degree burns. He had to be air lifted to the burn unit in the valley. My mom left right then and there with him, and had nothing but two dollars in her pocket.

Kade spent about two of the most painful weeks in his life at the hospital. Every day his burn was scrubbed twice a day. This is one of the most painful things ever. They put you in a tub of water, and then gently scrub. Getting in the water alone, made grown men scream. After a few days he went into surgery to have a skin graft. They took the skin from the back of his thigh and then placed it on the burn. You can see from the pictures where he was burned, and where the skin graft was from. All of these pictures are from after he came home from the hospital so these look way better than it did before, if you can believe that! They had over 100 staples in his leg. All of these pictures are from after the skin graft had taken place and the staples were removed. So he was on the healing end of things.

I wanted to go see Kade, but my mom wanted me to stay at school because I had to study for finals. There were only two people Kade requested be with him, and one was my mom and the other was me, so she finally gave in and I came the weekend before finals. He had just had surgery at that point. It was one of the most emotional weekends I have ever had. I can't hardly talk about it now without tearing up. It was so hard to see my little brother in so much pain. Even the morphin that they give the patients doesn't cover the pain.

This is what his leg looks like now, after two years of healing. It has finally got some regular color in it. The place that they took the skin graft from is not even visible. It is truly amazing. Kade's nerves are still so close to the surface that if he gets kicked or hit in the leg it still hurts him today. He is an amazing kid, and I don't think I would have been as strong as him!

The Williamsons

For those of you who didn't know, I have a very large step-family. Besides my mom's own 4 kids, my step-dad has 5 kids. Needless to say, we have a very full house when we all get together. My step-sister, Leah is the same age as me, and today was her wedding day! She looked beautiful. She and her now husband already have two kids, so we have been way ready for this day.

Leah and Marshall didn't have a wedding photographer, so my step-dad offered my services to them. I said I would do it, but it makes me so nervous to do big things like this. But I figure that if you can get a handfull of good pictures it's all worth it!

These pictures are some of my favorites. The pictures with the shoes, are one right shoe taken from the groom, bride, and the their two little boys. The one with the hands, was a little harder to take, because the baby didn't want any part of it, but I felt that it was important because they were getting married as a family, not just as a couple. The one of Leah by the door is the money shot if you ask me. I'm thinking, that if she doesn't mind I am going to get it blown up really big and enter it in the fair this year.

Little League Softball

It's that time of year again. Little League baseball/softball. So many kids come out for this every year! It really amazes me. Taylor is playing this year. It really isn't her favorite sport, or even close to being favorite but she decided to play anyway. She got hit in the face with a softball a couple years ago, so she sometimes is a little hesitant to play. She is on Carrie Crosby's team, and they are the Twins. There are a lot of girls on this particular team that are really good friends, so I think they enjoy softball because of one another. Unfortunately though, a lot of the girls on the team don't really care about sports, and so they don't really put forth much effort. Taylor likes to win, so I think sometimes it bugs her, and she kinda takes over wherever she is.

There are only three teams in her age group, so they play each other a LOT. Taylor actually does really well. She is great as a shortstop, first baseman, or catcher. She also is a pretty good hitter. Well, that is until lately. Because she got hit, she has been a little scared of the ball. When the season first started she had to get used to the pitching machine. Now, she has no fear of it, and always is a good little hitter. But, now that the season has been going for a while they are letting the girls that are pitcher's try their hand at it. Taylor jumps out of the box nearly everytime someone is pitching to her. I don't blame her! Savannah Ramsey was pitching the other night, and that girl has an arm on her! Someday she is going to be an awesome pitcher. She throws so hard and fast already, but she isn't quite accurate yet. No wonder Taylor was a little nervous. But I imagine she'll overcome this, and be all the better for it. Unless someone beans her with the softball.......

I love this time of year! I love going to these games and smelling the hot dogs that are being cooked. I just really hate the softball cheers they sing....I wake up in the middle of the night singing, "I see a hole out there! I see an H-O-L-E, hole out there! I never played softball, therefore I don't think I should have to be submitted to learning the cheers!

P.S. If you look at the second picture (Taylor running), her tongue is sticking out. It is very common to see her playing any sport like that. We just expect her to bite it off someday on accident.

New to Us

Last Friday Trevor and I purchased our first car together! Although it is a "previously owned" car, it is new to us. Trevor already has a truck and I have a car, but they aren't exactly new. His truck turned over 300,000 miles not to long ago. My car has over 200,000 miles, AND if any of you have seen it, well, it has had better days.

We bought this car in town from Nelson Davis. It is a Volkswagon Passat. It is a 2001, which isn't brand new, but it is about 10 years newer than either one of our cars. It had about 54, 000 miles on it, which isn't bad considering it is 6 years old.

We took it to the valley this weekend and it ran great! We got better gas mileage than we do on either of the other cars. Trevor says our next item of business is to get a CD player in it followed by new rims instead of hubcaps. Which really is a good thing, because as we were driving on the freeway the driver side hubcap flew off! There was nothing we could do about it so it is lying on the side of the road still unless someone picked it up.

Sorry it's not more exciting, but this is our new baby and we are so excited about it!

Chicago is NOT the Windy City

Today was miserable! It's not track season so why are the winds blowing so hard? Hurricane winds are 70mph and we hit about 55mph. That is just flat out crazy! I swear I thought I was going nuts with all the noise.

I kid you not when I say that every surface of my home was and still is covered in dirt! I took pictures to prove it. I don't even know how so much of it got in. I did have windows open for a while, but I think a lot of it came in through the vents and cracks that aren't even visible around doors and windows. It is truly a mess. These pictures are from around my sliding glass door, and no that is not a shadow, that is dirt! yuck.......it's going to take all summer break just to clean up all the dust. I am pretty sure that your house is NOT supposed to smell like dust.

Clearly whoever believes that Chicago is the windy city has never been to St. Johns Az! Normally you can see the road and the airport from right here. But not today.