stupid swine flu

Hi I decided to post for a min.

who knows when it'll happen again but here goes...

Our elem. school is offering free swine flu shots for the school kids.

my hubby is all for the stupid shot but I'm not sold.

he gets it free at work every year and figures why not so he gets the shot.

Of the friends that my kids play with, 2 families that I know for sure of, went and did the swine flu mist for their kids. A few days or so later, THEY HAD THE FLU! high fever and all for a week. then it passed around to each family member so they had to deal with it for a couple of weeks. We have been exposed numerous times. even just from these 2 families by taking the non sick (at the time) kids to school (who might carry it and could come down with it any time

not to mention the ones who still go to school even though they are contagious, and we are fine

I'm not saying it's not wise to get the shot-for some people- but we never get the flu. If there was a shot for the cold I would consider it... maybe

Anyway

tomorrow our stake is doing a road show! we have been busy with that for a few months and it's finally come. I even have a part. it's supposed to be just the youth in it but one girl is in the school play and it's the same night. so as of last week I am doing her part. nice that I had one practice to go to before the actual thing right? I'm the youngest leader so naturally I was chosen to be the understudy. the only thing about it that has me antsy is I don't know the song (it's a musical) in our scene and there are only 8 of us singing it and the youth are almost whispering it during practice and the audience won't hear a thing. we don't have a mic to use either.

I took a photography class. now I keep going to the library to check out books on photography and I've taken about a million pictures. one of my neighbors has a nikon D70 and she has let me borrow it. Only now I don't want to use my camera. Or give it back. EVER

I have a nice compact digital that had some manual features like a DSLR has but it's just not as much fun.

And there is SO much info to learn that now I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I wish I had time to just "study" and learn but with kids it does not happen much.

I need it to be quiet with no distraction for it to stick. I wonder how I used to do it when I was in school. Learning. I feel like my brain is mush and it takes so much more work to remember things. and not just with this photography stuff either.

But I'm excited that I'm doing something to "excercise my brain". it's been to long.

Here are some samples:

most are not edited at all. Ihave gimp( a free photo editing program) but have no idea how to use it. the ones htat have been were done on photoshop on my inlaws comp.

Tanner was Crazy Frog this year!

Brookie is a fairy

it's almost time!

AHHH!

YW Camp is in 3 days!!!
All the hard work will be soon put into use!
I can't believe how much WORK it is to put together 3 days of camping with 20 teens.!
Most everything is done and gathered and in my room. (I feel like I'm moving with all the boxes and crap lying around!)
It's going to be so much fun !!

Wish me luck!

My baby is 1 I'm not sure if that is ok

We had quite the weekend this past week! Preston had his 1st birthday!!! We had my family over and Nate's Family (but it was easier for at least most of them cuz they live here )

I think it's the 1st time they have been to my in-laws since we have been married. They came to "rescue me" one time when we were dating cuz my car died. The remodel is mostly done so they got to see first hand all the fun we have had the past few months.

Any way...

Preston had no idea what was going on but enjoyed tearing the wrapping paper anyways. And loves the new toys. He LOVES stuffed animals and got 2, a leapord he became attatched to while at the zoo the other day, and an elmo that blows kisses, which preston is getting good at. He always gives them a huge hug and kinda curls his body around them and his blankie when he has that also.

I stole it from him the other day and he got mad and took it back and said "My bankie!" I was kinda shocked and had a big laugh at that. He does not talk alot but is pretty clear when he does decide to. He is also making a lot of progress toward full time walking. He still prefers to crawl, he is much faster that way, but when it's on HIS terms, he can walk across the room. He has also taken to doing a bear crawl like Tanner used to do.

He LOVES anything chocolate. so of course he had a chocolate cake of his own.
At first he dug his hands into the frosting and was flinging it off his hands but after he got rid of most of it he dug in!! Surprisingly when he eats chocolate, most of it ends up IN his mouth and not all over him.

This is all he left behind...That is mostly the top with the frosting that is in the chair.

Nate gave him a bath after but i'm not really sure why, he was not that messy but he loves taking a bath too so I'm sure he did not mind. Seriously that is all the mess he made on himself! Well his hands were a little dirtier but he is in the tub after all.

Ok so on friday, Brookie graduated from Kindergarten!

They had a program where all the kinder kids sang and one class did a dance and they recited a (long) cute poem about how they have grown up so much from being babies and now they are really smart almost 1st graders. it was really cute but long enough that the kids didn't remember half the words and it was a lot of mumbling. They tried and that is what counts. They all got an award and Brooklyn's was for being a Happy Helper. She was so excited about that. She is so big!! It's gone by so fast. I still have a hard time thinking about how I have kids at all let alone one who is now a first grader! She had to wear her church shoes with high heals and it made her seem even older to me. I don't look forward to high school and I'm afraid we will be there way to soon.!!

While waiting for Brooklyn to get her backpack from her classroom we were just standing outside waiting and I just happened to look at my hand and there was a strange tan-ish kinda furry, i think flying bug on it. I tried to blow it off but it was attatched so I blew harder and it flew off ,or something like that. A few min later my hand started to burn and I got a small bump that looked like a mosquito bite. within a few min it was about the size of a quarter and it was throbbing. I put some anti-itch cream on it when we got home and a little later put ice to see if it would stop the swelling.

Well it got worse.

and then stayed that way the rest of the day so I thought I was through the worst of it and tried to ignore the slight burning in my hand. That night Ikept waking up with pain in my hand and in the morn. my hand was so swollen I could not hardly bend it. I was supposed to work at the salon at nine am and no one was answering their phones so I could get out of going This is my LEFT hand btw. I'm a lefty. There was No way I could cut hair! But the last 3 weeks I have been the only one there for at least the first hour (one week the other girl was 3 hours late!!!!!). I could not just not go. Luckily the one who is always late called me back about 5 min. before I needed to leave so I told her there was no way I could work and that she needed to be to work on time. She said she was prob going to be a half hour late (she always has some reason). I did finally get a hold of another girl and luckily did not have to go to work only to be able to tell the clients- sorry I can't do anything but someone will be here prob at 10. I can just imagine how happy they would all be... They are already mad that there has been only one person on a sat. morning. I usually do 6 h/c that first hour by my self 10 min. h/c! if not faster when I'm alone and rushed.

Anyway,

So my hand kept growing. these pix were taken Sat morning. my hand was about twice that size by the end of the day. my fingers were huge, my wrist was huge. And it hurt so bad!!

I did go to the Dr. and since we don't know what bit me, he put me on an antibiotic and an anti inflamitory for 5 days, but said if the redness started going up my arm I'd have to come back and get some shots. (not a shot, SOME SHOTS)

Nate and my dad-in-law gave me a blessing last night (I hate shots and it was getting worse) and I am so happy to say that this morning the swelling was down a ton! it was still swollen and stiff and actually looked like a huge bruise. But SO much better. And right now I have almost full function back and almost no swelling. Ialmost have nuckles again!

I'm still going to take the meds to make sure the poison it out of my system but I am SOOO glad it's better today. I really hate shots. and it really hurt. My hand is itchy now and that is annoying but I'll lake that over what I had yesterday.

My fingers and wrist and palm were all puffy like the top of my hand. I wish I had taken a picture then too but it was not on my mind. Sorry.

Oh I Hate my camera, the pix are all ways fuzzy. If anyone has a recomendation so me...

I want a smaller one to keep with me like in my purse. We have a large one and I love it but our charger and battery are packed. Who knows where...