This is for Tonya

My friend Tonya REALLY wanted to see the movie poster i did in my last design class. I based it off of a series of books that I loved. well my favorite part was adding the fire to the girls dress, I think it is pretty on its own so I added it too. This was a really fun project, but I am not entirely happy with how it turned out, It still needs some work. I hope you are not disapointed Tonya....lol

WERE STILL ALIVE!!!

Well after about nine months I finally decided (with a little help from my friends) to update my blog. As a family its been a crazy year, but we are happy. I will put some updated pictures of my girls, so you can see how grown up and beautiful (if I do say so myself) they are. We took these on Christmas eve. they are in the darling matching sweaters that the mystery Santa brought them.

Myah Lynne, 12 years old now
Tammy Ann, 10 years old
Hayley Ray, 4 years now

Yep, I think they are pretty darn cute, and they are such good kids too. I am the luckiest person in the world to get such a great family.

I went back to work at Convergys so I can take advantage of the tuition reimbursement. Even though I wasn't really excited to go back, it turned out to be a good decision for our family. Looking back I am glad that is what we decided to do. I work from midnight to 7 am, and then I go to school. This is great because I don't need to worry about the kids, or bribe my bro to watch them since I am home with them.

I love school, well except the stressful parts. I like learning and I think I have forgotten that I really am a smart person. I have been on the Deans list the entire time I have been in school, and as for graphic design, I absolutely love it. I will post some of the things I have done on my blog soon, and I will try to keep up on it better.

HAPPY #6

I will be the first to admit that cleaning isn't something that usually makes me feel happy (until it is done and then I am happy) but this weekend Andrew was sorting out some of our "stuff" and he found these pictures of us in High School. It was so long ago and I can't believe how young we looked... anyway a trip down memory lane made me happy, and I thought it would be fun to share (who is that skinny girl?)

my 1992 Junior year picture

1991 Homecoming Dance

This is my favorite dance picture, It was one of the girls choice dances we went to.
18 years after this picture was taken he still is my "choice" and just like the picture says we are "worth fighting for!"


We found a lot more pictures of all of our friends, some we are still in touch with and others we aren't. It makes me want to break out in a game of dead chipmunk.
Fun times!!
(but I would never want to live through being a teenager again.....I was a tiny bit emotional, besides I am so happy with my life now)

happy #5

The technology that enables me to keep in touch with my friends and family all over the country makes me happy, I got to have an instant message conversation with my dad, I got to talk with some of my friends on face book, and was reminded of a fun memory with Gina on my blog. It is great fun!!!!

My Family Made My Day

I woke up this morning with a terrible headache so I took my migraine medicine and went right back to sleep. When I woke up 2 hours later feeling better. My family surprised by doing all the house work, so I didn't have to do the regular Saturday catch up and was able to just hang out with them and enjoy my day.
We went to watch the Black and White Days parade, and then went to the carnival. It was a lot of fun, and Hayley just had to "ride the cow," and since her big sisters love her so much (and spoil her rotten) Tammy paid for her ticket and Myah rode the mechanical bull with her.
When we got home we decided to play charades and name that tune (primary song version) and can I tell you we are a riot! I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Andrew was a roller skating waitress, I was a Charlie Brown on Halloween, Tammy was buried in the sand getting eaten by crabs, Myah was the crazy flexible person from Ripleys believe it or not, and last but not least Hayley was copying everything Myah did with a lot of enthusiasm...
SPENDING TIME WITH MY FAMILY MAKES ME HAPPY!!!

Happy #3

My Achievement Day girls make me happy!!! This is the best calling in the world, and I hope I never get released. I am sad though that Tammy has to go with the older group now.

Still so happy

Well today is the day!! I finally went and did it!!!
I went and got almost all signed up for school and I am oh so excited. Andrew and I decided to take a leap of faith and go for it so I am going to go to Stevens Heneger and get my degree in Graphic Design. It is going to mean dreadful student loans but this is a happy post so we will try not to think about those!! If I start working at Convergys again the tuition reimbursement is just too good to pass up! (Yep I'm happy)

Tag I'm it!!

My cute cousin Gina tagged me with this "Pursuit of Happiness" challenge. I am supposed to blog something that makes me happy every day for eight days. I think this will be a lot of fun.

Day 1
First and foremost my little family makes me happier than anything in the whole world! I don't know what I would do with out my 3 sweet girls and Andrew is an amazing husband, I am also grateful for my extended family.... I wish we got to see each other more! I tag Tonya, Hannah, Jill, Shelly, Tracy, Amanda, Allan, and Jenny

FIREGIRL FRED

Andrew bought Hayley this pedal car for her before she was born, he has been so excited for her to break it in for a long time now, and I was excited to get it out of my laundry room. She had so much fun riding it, and it was so cute that I needed to post it. I love living in a small town with very little traffic, and the cars that did come by were happy to give the firetruck the right away.

Wonderful mother in law

I wanted to do a short tribute to my mother in law Ann Facer on her birthday.

I am so glad that I got to know her even though it wasn't very well, Even then when I was Andrews pesky high school girl friend I felt close to her, the same way I do now when I am with my kids. She was a very caring and loving person. I miss her and I know all of her family misses her too. I have so much love for her in my heart for the biggest role she had in raising her son to be such a wonderful and caring man. I will always be grateful.

MY CRAZY KIDS

Well I stayed home sick from work today. Myah was so excited that I was home and could do her hair for crazy hair day, because she was just going to rat it all up. Since I was home she had me do some funky braiding. Man that girl has some hair. I need to get it cut for the summer.

A few weeks ago Myah bought theese little popper toys at her school book fair, and she let Tammy play with them and this is so typically Tammy that I had to take the picture when I saw her doing this.

What great kids I have!! They always keep me laughing!!

So I had a bad day....

Don't worry I am not going to play that song that we all liked the first thousand or so times we heard it. I just wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for me this last week. Just in case you don't know let me give you a rundown on my "terrible horrible no good very bad" Thursday....

I wake up at 3:00 am to Hayleys cute little voice at my door saying I tinky, So I get up and think OK she needs her pull up changed no biggie.. and really she was telling me I'm sticky. I ask her whats all over her and she says "poop." I say that is not poop, its yellow. She says "Oh well maybe food then" I was very excited that she put that sentence together so well until I went in the kitchen and sayw what she was "cooking" on my floor was a gallon and a half of milk, almost a whole dozen eggs (broken of course) and a big bag of shredded cheese, and a whole bag of pretzels all mixed up all over my floor and all over Hayley. We get that all cleaned up and I try to get her back to sleep after her bath and I start coughing again really hard. I'm not surprised that I am sick we have all been crappy for the last week.

I haven't eaten or drank anything in about 2 days because I am so dizzy and pukey. (I know big problem) I go back to bed and calm down and go back to sleep for an hour until I get Myah and Tammy up to find that they are still coughing to hard to go to school I make them eat and drink a little (and still don't get anything for myself. ) I have a Dr's appointment scheduled that afternoon to follow up on the new medicine that he gave me for fibromyalgia. As it gets closer and closer to time for my appointment I am getting sicker and sicker and can't breath and I am so light headed. Well I got Leslie (my wonderful sister in case you don't know her) to take me to the Dr. Andrew just got off work early again so he met me there. When I get there he told me I stepped in dog poop. so I go try to clean it off my shoe the best I can. When it got time to go in to see Dr. Carlson (the very best Dr in the world I highly recommend him) he checks all sorts of things and ends up asking me what I have eaten or drank in the last two days. I tell him, and off I go to the hospital for a fun filed night of tests and IV's, tests, x-rays and more tests. They had a very hard time with the blood tests and the IV cause I was so dehydrated they could not get a vein. (I am still mad at myself cause I knew better than let that happen) and the test test for the flu is brutal worse that the whooping cough test which was pretty bad.

Dr. C came in after his meeting at the church which is right behind the hospital. (convenient for him.) He tells me to stay the night and get re hydrated and we will talk in the morning. He gives me some good cough syrup and I go to sleep. I sleep pretty good knowing that if Hayley decides to cook again I don't have to clean it up. (Thanks again Les for taking them for the night!) Well I woke up the next morning feeling a lot better, still coughing but not dizzy and icky. Dr Carlson came again Fri morning and told me that I need to take my medicine when scheduled (I hadn't taken it cause I wasn't eating) and eat and drink a lot! and said when I finish my IV bag I can go home I don't have the flu, pneumonia or whooping cough, just the worst regular cough he has ever heard.

I really do want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for me and my family. Thanks Margaret for bringing me dinner last night it was fabulous and you are a life saver! Thanks to Dustin for springing me from the hospital with a diet coke in hand. and of course Kim for taking my kids on Saturday night so I can rest. I am getting better, my cough is still bad but I am able to walk around and take care of my kids. I am taking much better care of myself so this never happens again.

HOW I ROLL

In the disability awareness class that I am helping with, Becky (who uses a wheelchair) issued all of us a challenge to use a wheelchair to go use the rest room. I went down the hall and entered the restroom and the stall and got onto the toilet and back all with out using my feet at all. It was harder that I thought it would be, and I never imagined that it would be easy. It also makes you think about the accessible restrooms, and how accessible they really are? I can tell you that even in the Center for People with Disabilities I had a very hard time maneuvering the chair into a stall. If I really needed to go I would have left a puddle I am sure of it.
For our next challenge I was paired off with another girl and given very good earplugs and challenged to wear them, and walk to the student center on campus and ask a student what time it was and also go into the book store and ask for help finding books on sign language. We were lucky to find very helpful people in both places, but the hard part was that we had to try to engage a stranger in a conversation. It was really weird how uncomfortable people were with us around. I could see them looking at us because we were talking loud so we could hear each other and using a lot of gestures (because had no idea how to get around USU campus.) The thing is when I tried to smile at someone to start a conversation with them, they would just look away and not make eye contact.
It was a super neat experience, and I am so glad I got to participate in it. It really opened my eyes to how people with physical disabilities are perceived. The morale of my story is.....
You can't judge another until you roll a mile in their place!

Hayleys new "do"

As most of you probably know Hayley is a budding young hair stylist. At least we Know that she loves to cut her hair. (She can hunt down a pair of scissors from where you swear she cant get them) My friend Michelle has wanted to cut it for such a long time, but we were never able to work out our busy schedules. Yesterday we just decided to do it. It looks so much better, you can see her pretty blue eyes and her cute chubby cheeks. Hayley even loves her "so cute hair" so much that she came home and snuck into my bathroom and gave herself a makeover. I just hope she loves it so much that she will not cut it.

Life Lessons from my Mom

Mom it has been four years now since you passed away, and I think about you every day!!
I wanted to make a tribute to you by listing a few of the millions of things you have taught me
.
-I was not born in a barn!
-Anything worth doing is worth doing right!
-Always stand up for what you I believe, even if I am the only one around that believes it
-I am the one that has to sleep at night.
-Always follow my intuitions, if something seems not quite right, it probably isn't.
-Try to get along with my sisters, because they will become my best friends.
-Nothing is EVER so bad that a lunch date can't help.
-I can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
-Love with all your heart, that is why we are here.
-Don't be afraid to act goofy and have fun
-Make the time for myself and so something I enjoy.
-It's really not too bad to have a room full of fabric and craft supplies, I always have something to do.
-It will work out somehow it always does.
-If I say I am going to do something I better do it
-DON'T EVER GIVE UP!
-I have to taste everything at least once before I can say I don't like it.
-Cupboard doors and light switches really do work both ways.
-The only way it is going to get done is if I do it.
-Having a good sense of humor can get me through tough times.
-Sometimes I need to pick my battles.
-I cant spoil my kids with love (only with things)
-It is actually kind of fun to let the kids give you a mohawk!!

Mom you taught me so many things I don't have room to list them all. I hope that I can be the kind of mom to my kids that you were to me. I miss you so much, I am so glad that I know I will see you again!!
Thank You!!

YES INDEEDY....THAT'S MY SWEETY!!!!

I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog and I have a lot to catch up on I have to tell my super wonderful husband Andrew happy Birthday ( I know his birthday was on Friday but it has been a very crazy week)
He is 35 this year!! I actually met Andrew when he was only 16, and I was 15. I am very lucky to be married to my best friend for the last 12 years. I can't believe how time flies when you grow up and have kids. Well anyway I hope you had a good day Andrew!!

REALLY NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!

Ok so I may be on a soapbox here, but did you know that in Utah health insurance does not cover the recommended treatments and diagnosis for children with autism. I know from experience what a financial burden this is on an emotionally stressed family. I have been a lot luckier that most parents because Hayley has made enough improvement that I haven't felt it necessary to get the official clinical diagnosis, so she is covered medically. I do have very good friends that are not this lucky. There is a bill called Clays laws that is being debated in the state legislature that requires the insurance companies to partially cover these expenses. The recommended treatment for autism is called applied behavior analysis and it recommends 40 hours a week of training communication and appropriate social behaviors. In most cases this is very effective and life changing for young children. The down side of this is that it can cost up to $30,000 a year. (I don't even make that in a year working 40 hours a week) Who can afford that especially with what is going on in the economy, but if parents are not able to so this then what.... It doesn't seem like the best solution to ignore them now and then let our tax dollars support them as adults because they don't have the social or emotional skills necessary to have a job or even a fulfilling relationship. (Why would we want to deprive our children of this) Ok so this is where you come in. If you will take a few minutes to send a letter to the appropriate representatives for your district. If you don't know who they are or how to contact them you can get the information on the Utah State website le.utah.gov This takes a small amount of time and will make a huge difference to let them know why it is so important to us to get this law passed!! Please take just a few minutes to do this, it is so important!!

The BEST h-auntie in the world

OUR ROOTS SAY WE'RE SISTERS,
OUR HEARTS SAY WE'RE FRIENDS!
-unknown


I wanted to let someone (who is very special to more people than she realizes) know how much we love her. Happy Birthday Leslie I don't know what I or my family would do without your love and support!! Thanks for being the wonderful person that you are.

what a day....

Today was the day of surgeries for the Facer family (at least two of us) Andrew had badly broken his leg in Feburary and one of the screws that he had in his leg was sticking out. It would really hurt him if it got bumped so his dr decided that it has been enough time to take it out. (and he kindly squeezed us in before the end of the year since our deductable is already paid) It was an outpatient deal and it really only took about 15 minutes, and about an hour after making sure he was ok to go home.
Also my poor accident prone Tammy had stepped on some glass about a month ago and I thought we had it all out, but yesterday it started hurting her so much so Andrew took her into the doctor to see what was wrong. The instacare took ex rays and they could see something in her foot but couldn't figure out why it was on the other side of her foot (they transposed the image somehow) So today we took her back in for more ex-rays at a podiatrist and he had to go in and dig out a piece of glass.
Anyway both are doing well now. They are hurting a little but nothing that they can't handle. Neither one has wanted to take anything for the pain. The doctor cleaned it up and gave us the screw that was in his leg. (maybe he figured that we paid enough for it we should keep it) anyway it is pretty interesting though, I guess in a strange way.


The sweetest thing just happened with Hayley a few minutes ago. She just came up to me and said "I wan see Grandma" It is especaily sweet since both of her Grandmas passed away before she was born. I was very lucky to have known Andrews mom even though she died before we were married, and Hayley was born 7 months after my mom died. So naturally I got out some pictures of our moms to show her and she did the cutest things like kiss them and tell them that she loves them but my favorite thing is that out of the blue she said "dey wiff Jesus" It really made me feel like crying. You know what they say about the faith of a child.

Tammys orchestra concert

In my first post I mentioned that I would post some pictures of Tammy's
Orchestra concert. It was all of the 4th and 5th grade orchestra students in the Cache County school district. I was amazed at how well they did for their age. I know Tammy loves to play and she is doing very well with it.