Unexpected bills

This week has been an interesting one for our little household.

The husband woke me up at 3 in the morning on Wednesday in severe pain. He needed to go to the hospital for possible kidney stones. We got 1/2 way there and the pain went away. So we went home (no point in going to the ER without any pain). At around 5 am he woke again with the pain this time they did not go away only got much worse. So off to the ER we went. 4 hours later we still didn't have an answer as to if it was or wasn't Kidney Stones. The husband has had K.S. before and all the pain and symptoms were the same so they just said it was probably kidney stones. They prescribed him some Percocet and Flomax and sent us on our way.

Today he still has mild pain and nauseau so we don't know if the stone has passed or not. He didn't recieve a strainer to try to catch the stone if it did pass and they didn't do a CT or Ultrasound to see if they could find the actual stone. So at this point we have no idea. So he now has an appointment with the Urologist and hopefully we can get some answers.

The worst part of this whole drama is the insurance company. Because we had to go to the hospial so early and I wasn't thinking clearly. We went to the closest hospital to our house. A friend/neighbor/and co-worker of the husband had gone to the same hospital mabye a year ago so we assumed we were covered. Assumed being the keyword. Today while making the Urologist appt the receptionist broke the news to us that the hosptial we went to WAS NOT IN OUR NETWORK! Fun for us! So upon calling our Insurance provided and verifing that we were in fact out of network for an 4 hour ER visit and would now have to pay $800 co-pay and 50% of the remaining bill. It sucks! I hate insurance companies. They aren't nice. I've never really dealt with insurance. Yes we've gone to the doctor numerous times. But we get a bill and we pay it. End of story. I've always found our doctors on their website so up until this point we've never had a problem. We've never had to go to the ER at 5 in the morning.

My mom is also freaking me out because she keeps asking questions about our insurance company and what they do and do not cover for materinity. So while finding out that we weren't covered at the ER we went to I also tried to get questions answered about what and how we are covered. This is my first pregnancy and I don't know what we need to do with insurance before we have the baby. I've heard horror stories about having to call the insurance company when I go into labor to make sure the contractions are far enough along for admittance and being told to wait only to have the child at home or in the car (okay this may have been in a movie or something but I have a very active imagination). I want our labor day to go perfect. My mom also asked how long the insurance will allow me to stay in the hospital. And what hospital is better covered in our plan.

All these questions could not be answered by our insurance company. All she told me was when I go into labor the hospital will have to verify all these things. I could not. It's very frustrating and when I told her that this was my first time she said "What having Insurance?" Which I thought very inconsiderate of her! I'm trying to be a responsible person and having things preapproved or prequalified or whatever before we actually have the baby and she's just being mean! I'm not a fan of the insurance companies. GRRR!

Coolest

I have the coolest brother every! He's going to do our taxes for FREE! He's his final year for accounting and he's been doing taxes for businesses for about a year. So he definitly knows what he's doing.

Crazy times

The other day my twin sister and her husband made a comment to me that just floored me.

In five years their only son will be graduating high school and moving out. That means at the age of 35 she will have a empty nest! Where as I will be putting my first child into Kindergarten.

Is that insane or what!

Not really a New Year Resolution

I've never been big on New Years Resolutions. They just never seem to stick. I hate promising that I'll do or quite something only to not accomplish it by the end of the year. It's not fun.

So this year I haven't made any New Years Resolutions but I have thought about what I want for the coming year.

As everyones knows the husband and I are expecting our first child. So of course we would like a healthy pregnancy and in the end a healthy happy baby. We can't wait until July when we get to welcome this child into our family. It's going to be an exciting time for us. Our lives will surely change after that. Our priorities will change. Instead of buying stuff to fill our lives we will have this wonderful bundle of joy to do that for us. We still don't know if I'll be working, but if I do it will only be part time. So that will change our living/spending situation. We will be on a budget.

This coming year we will definitly be practicing saving. And hopefully only living off the one income. So if I was to make a New Years Resolution it would be that we would be better at saving our money and budgeting our money. We have to figure out what we don't aboslutely need.

So those would be my Resolutions - to have a healthy baby and to try to save.

Shock me shock me

Last night something surprising happened to the husband and I.

It's no secret that we are having a hard time having kids. I'm past the point of being coy about it. If someone asks if we have children or when we are going to have kids I'm very blunt with the fact that we can't and that we most likely will have to do invetro. It's just easier then tiptoeing around the subject. We've talked to the husbands parents about this as well. We've told them how much the procedure is going to cost and the fact that there is no guarantees.

Their suggestion for us: Maybe you should start a website to get donations from people online. Umm not really the road we were wanting to go. And they tell us this AFTER they get a large inheratance from her mother. And they have bought a brand new truck and a camper. Not once did they offer to help us with the procedure. It's been a sour spot with my husband for a long time. He feels that his family doesn't want to be an active part in our life. They only visit when we ask them over. We have scheduled days that we have dinner once a month. And when he sees my family and how close we are it's hurtful for him. But I try to remind him it's a two way street and if he wants his family to be more open and inviting he needs to be as well.

Back to our surprise. My mother in law had called on Sunday wishing me a Happy Birthday but I didn't get to the phone in time. So all I got was a message. I called her back last night to plan a day to get together for Cake and Ice Cream. We stopped having dinner with them once a month due to our overwhelming schedule. So it's been a few months since we've seen them last. At the end of the conversation she mentioned that she had a question for me. She wanted to help with our invetro. I was beyond shocked. I know my husband was too proud to ask his parents and I didn't think it was my place to ask them. So to have her offer money was shocking to say the least. So we talked for a while about what we were trying right now. I told her that we had some money saved up and an estimated time to when we will begin. I couldn't give her an exact amount because we will do everything we can to pay as much as we can. But the fact that she will set aside money for us is wonderful. It also makes me feel guilty that we haven't visited them in a long time. And I think that we will need to start seeing them on more of a regular basis. The monthly dinners will be hard for us, but I think if we stop by every now an then it should do. And maybe if we start setting the example that visits are nice then they will visit us without a formal invitation.

Canada is an adventure

This weekend my sisters and I drove to Canada for a family reunion. We've driven to Canada before without the husbands but this is my first time driving and taking my own car. I was so excited to be the one that could drive into Canada (usually I'm the passenger).The drive up was pretty normal. We left home around 3:00 pm and made it to the border at exactly 1:00 am.

We had a good time at the reunion with just few hiccups.

* I locked my keys in my car. It would have been alright if my spare key wasn't 10 hours away in Utah with my husband.

- what happened was I unlocked my car with the clicker. Then my sister asked if I would pop the trunk; so I pressed the trunk button on the clicker as well. Then I threw my keys onto the seat and went to our tent. My sister then asked why I had locked the car. WTF? I guess my car automatically locks when the trunk is popped open. Why? I have no idea. Therefore my car was locked with the keys inside and the trunk open. We couldn't find any way to push the seats down from inside the trunk but my cousin did figure out he could fit his arm in between the seat and if he had a stick (or arrow in our case) he may be able to press the unlock button. That actually didn't work but the idea was great. We did however figure out that if we had a wire hook on the end of a stick we could pull the handle on the door and open it from the inside. So thanks to a hot dog roaster we were able to finally open my door.

* My stepmom was able to alienate yet another child from the family. Already her three kids don't want anything to do with her. My brother moved into their house for a while so he could find an apartment that he could afford and she basically kicked him out (he lived in his car for a month -- even though we all said he could stay at our house). So he won't have anything to do with her or my dad. I won't really go into details because my stepmom could probably be an entire blog all by herself. But to sum it up, she said some things to one of my cousins about me that pretty much pissed me off. My dad was sitting with her and do you think he'd stand up for me... nope. So basically I will have nothing to do with my stepmom or my dad.

* We went tubing on a river and my arms hurt so bad. I figured tubing would be getting into the tube and letting the river take us down. Not so much. We had to dodge rocks, make it over the white water parts and basically paddle to keep up with the group. The inside of my arms are rubbed raw.The drive home was what became the interesting part of our trip. My youngest sister and nephew stayed in Canada with my dad so it was just me and my twin sister driving home. We were pretty low on gas but figured we could make it to the next town to fill up.

* Normally we go this way to get to Cardston (see the orange line at the bottom). By taking this way we drive through at least 3 towns before we get to Cardston (all of which have gas stations). But my uncles/dad/and grandpa said it would be faster to go this way (see the pink line at the bottom).

We weren't suppose to take the Port of Del Bonita border crossing; we were actually aiming for Milk River and crossing the border at Sweetgrass (like we always do). But we were completely out of gas when we got to Port of Del Bonita and it was another 65 km (just over 40 miles) to get to Milk River. (we had already driven 25 miles with the gas light on before we got to Port of Del Bonita) So we stopped at the border hoping they would have gas; lucky for us one of the security guards had a large gas can in his garage for his BMW and he gave us enough to get us to Cut Bank, MT .

* After barely making it to Cut Bank, MT we filled up and headed back to I-15 to get on our normal route. Only to be pulled over for speeding. The women cop was very pissy with us and wanted to know why we didn't pull over immediately when we saw the flashing lights.
a) we had just barely seen the flashing lights
b) the lights looked to be very far behind us and we weren't even sure it was for us in the first place
and c) we had to slow down in order to pull over which at 85 mph takes a few seconds.

So my sister (who was driving) got the ticket we had to pay $40 right there and I couldn't find my registration for my car.

Grr our trip home had not started well. Luckily we made it home at 12:30 am without any further incident.

And that my friends is our trip to Canada.

Good times

It's fun going places you've been to a million time as a kid and remembering "the good ole day".

This weekend we went to Lagoon. It's Utah's attempt of Six Flags. It's not the happiest place like Disneyland, but it's local and it's fun for a few hours.

We went with some friends in the neighborhood and their friends. It was a hot day, so the first ride we hit was a water ride. We got soaked! Then we had to ride the newest ride in the park (every year they add a new ride or attraction). The new ride was fun and totally fit it's name "Wicked". The rest of the day was filled with eating, waiting in line, riding rides and sweating ALOT.

But the fun part was remembering the things we've done there with our families or our friends.

• 
  In the middle of the the park is the Pioneer Village. It's made up to look like the Pioneer days with houses and stores. Kind of set up like a museum. One year my sister and our friends were there and the rides were boring because we've been on them so many times. So we bought water guns and ran around the pioneer village shooting each other. We would hide in the houses, sneak through trees and jump out at each other. It was so much fun and entertained us for easily 2 or 3 hours.



• Another time my brother and I went on Colossus: Fire Dragon. It was probably my first time on that ride. This roller coaster had two loops and I was scared to death. But we made it through and I loved it! That day there was no one in line so we ran back to the front and got on the next train. I think that day we rode Colossus 20 or more times, it was the best.



• My uncle lost part of his leg in a construction accident when I was younger. He received a prosthetic but at the time it still hurt for him to walk on it all the time. When they came to visit we took him and his family to Lagoon with us. He had a wheelchair at that the time. We didn't know it but people in wheelchairs got to go to the front of any line. We loved it. We all called dibs on my Uncle that day, who wouldn't want to cut to the front of the line on every ride!



• And who could forget the Tidal Wave. When one side of the boat would go up everyone on that side would yell "Tastes Great" and when the other side would go up everyone on that side would yell "Less Filling".



• There is a ride called the Sky Ride. It's just a ride to take you from one side of the park to the other. One year my sister and I rode that over and over again. Not because it was fun but because we made it fun. Instead of just sitting on the ride watching the people below us, we started talking to the other passengers that were passing us. Over and over we rode the ride, until other people started talking to us.



• And last; The skyscraper. This one scared the crap out of me. It's a ride that isn't included in the cost of the park. Little Miss and I went on this one together. You get strapped in together in a big harness and a line drags you to the top of the tower. When they tell you too you pull the rip cord and off you sail. It's a good thing that Little Miss was in charge of pulling the cord because I'm pretty sure we would have sat there suspended in air for a very long time. The initial fall was so scary but soaring over the people walking beneath us was amazing, it was like we were flying. Not sure if I'd do it again but it was totally worth it the one time I did.

Yup good time, good times.

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE 4TH OF JULY!

Flamingos

A few years ago I was in a photo "treasure" hunt where each month we were given a list of things to photograph and post it back on the website. One of the things to photograph was a flamingo. The goal was to be as creative as possible. We could get a real flamingo or a fake flamingo the only rule was a picture of a flamingo. That's about the time I became obsessed with everything flamingo. I think they are so funny! Utah use to have a flamingo at the Great Salt Lake that escaped from the local aviary. Instead of re-capturing the flamingo they let him live there. Every winter Floyd the Flamingo could be seen at the Great Salt Lake among the seagulls and other birds. I'm not sure if Floyd has been sited recently but I've been out to the Great Salt Lake many times to see if I could see him (no luck).

My mom is great at "helping" us with our addictions/collections. When I was younger I thought the Russ Trolls were so cute. Every chance I had to buy one I did. I acquired quite a collection of Trolls and my mom facilitated my collection by keeping a list of all my top Troll wants and buying them for me whenever possible.

With my flamingo obsession she's back to her old tricks. One day I was having a really bad day when there was a knock at my door. This was standing there:


I called my mom to find out if she left it and she denied everything, even though later I did find out she left it to cheer me up.

My aunt bought me this one from Build-A-Bear.


And this one my mom bought for me just because it was funny.


I also found this scrapbook paper at the store and immediately bought it even thought I'm not sure how I'll scrapbook with such a crazy background, it's just fun to have around.


So there you go that's my most recent obsession/addiction.

Oh I wonder

Recently two of my cousins have gotten married. It's been 2 years since we've had a wedding in our family (on my mom's side of the family), 4 years since a wedding in my immediate family. Every time someone gets married I start getting paranoid. I just know that they are going to get pregnent right away and start popping out little ones.

* When my younger sister got married every time she was sick or tired; in my mind I wondered if she was pregnent. Was there something she wasn't telling me? As time went by and I realized that she had no intention of getting pregnent I started to worry less.

But now it's back. With my cousins newly married status I am back to wondering. Everytime his wife mentions that she's been sick or she's really tired I wonder.

It's not that I wouldn't be happy for them. I just want them to enjoy being married for a while before they get pregnent. I want neices and nephews, I think it would be fun to have kids at our family parties again. But not this soon. I'm sure they are all on birth control, it's not my place to ask though. It's not my decision when they should start a family. And I can't be selfish and want them not to have children just because we can't. Personally I wouldn't wish what we are going through on anyone. It's horrible to know that there is only a 60% chance of every having a baby through medical means.

So the reason for this post: nothing really just getting my thoughts out there. I hope that one day my cousins will have children... just not right now.

Has it been five years?

Today is the husband and my 5 year anniversary. A small milestone.

How we met: On June 15th Perl and I went to Pine View Reservoir because we wanted to camp, the next day we went to the lake to find some guys with a boat. It worked, while we were laying out on the beach the husband walked up and asked us if we'd seen his friends. He sat down with us for a while and hung out. His friends did have a boat and we hung out with them for a few hours. We had to leave to feed the goat that Perl was tending for her mom. That evening we went back to where the husband and his friends were camping and it's pretty much history from there.

How he proposed: We dated for about six months. In that time I had moved from my apartment to my mom's house to be closer to him. On December 7th he proposed. That evening we had gone to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra Christmas Concert. As we left the concert the husband wanted to see the lights at Temple Square. I was in a dress and very cold and hungry. I just wanted to leave. He dragged me to a place were there weren't a lot of people and proposed. Of course I said Yes.

The Wedding: Six months after we got engaged we were married. It was nearly a year to the day that we met. We were married in the Salt Lake City Temple. The reception was in my mom's backyard.

My husband doesn't read this blog so I'm not going to write a drawn out sappy love letter to him. I just wanted to document this milestone in our life and mention that it has been wonderful. We've had our ups and our downs. But as a whole we work really well with each other. I've probably complained to my close friends and family about our marriage and our relationship, but everyone needs an outlet every once in a while. We have similar goals and ideas so most of the time when we want to do something the other is okay with it. We've never been clingy to each other so we have our space to do our own things. I scrapbook and have girls nights. He watches sports and goes 4-wheeling with the guys. He's been an awesome husband and I couldn't have asked for a better one.

In the five years that we've been married we have:

6. Travelled to 6 different countries.

Mexico

England

Paris

Rome

Australia

Canada (no picture because it's usually family stuff we are there for)

5. Flown to five different states together

Iowa (this picture was actually taken in Nauvoo, but it was the same trip

New Mexico

Florida

Texas

Colorado (no picture of just us since we were at a wedding most of the time)

4. Car accidents in my Prism

- Rear ended

- a guy backed into me

- Scrapped down the side of my car

- Dog ran into my car!

3. Lived in three different places:

an apartment

my moms house

and finally our own house.

2. I've had two different cars

1. The husband has switched jobs once.

And we still have our cat Abbie

We've accomplished a lot in the short time that we've been married. The only disappointment that we've had; is not having children. I had planned to be married for a year then start trying to get pregnant. The plan was simple, it was easy to follow. My body had other ideas.

We've had a great 5 years and I know that we will have many more. I truly think we were meant to meet 6 years ago at Pine View Reservoir.

I love you babe!

Our justice system at it's best

A few weeks ago my husband got a speeding ticket. Yeah it sucks. We've managed to clear both of our driving records in the past 3 years. So this ding on his record sucks big time. My husbands job requires him to drive ALOT. He was given a company van and they check his driving record periodically. I think he can only have 3 driving violations in a 5 year period or they take his van away and he has to work in the shop. Yeah that would suck.

We decided that he'd go to traffic school then the violation won't show up on his record. For two weeks after he got his speeding ticket he tried to get ahold of the courts to find out how much his fine is and if he is eligable for traffic school. They never had his ticket on file when he called and he didn't want to waste our minutes being on hold trying to figure out what was the problem. So I took over the phone calling duties while at work. I was finally able to get ahold of live person, after 2 1/2 weeks the ticket still was not entered into their system. So she found the paper copy of his ticket and entered it. The fine for going 5 miles over is $90. Ouch. Traffic School is an additional $50... double Ouch. But in the long run it's worth it so we'll bite the bullet and pay the money. The women I talked to said that the ticket was due that Friday. I called on a Wednesday... WTF? Then she was like would you like an extension. Well duh, it takes you 2 1/2 WEEKS to input his ticket but you expect me to pay at the drop of a hat. Right. We got the extension for another week.

The instructions on the ticket is to either pay by mail or to pay in person at the courthouse. Now here is the kicker: The court is just down the street from where I work, so I figured I'd just pay in person and make sure it was taken care of in a timely manner. Yesterday I decided I was in a good enough mood to deal with the court and their workers. I made my way to the cashier and happily told the women behind the counter I would like to pay for my husband's speeding ticket and traffic school. She told me that I couldn't. WTF! She said either my husband would have to come in and pay for it or we could mail the check to them. So what she's telling me is "I" can't pay his ticket in person but "I" can pay the ticket by mail. Seriously WTF? My head about exploded. This is the #1 reason I had to be in a good mood when I went, I knew they would be asses somehow.

So why can't I pay the ticket? It's not like I found the ticket on the ground and decided to be a good Samaritan and pay the ticket for a stranger. This is MY husband, it's OUR checking account, He's still paying for it just NOT IN PERSON! Yeah I just don't get it.

Eating with the in-laws

The second Monday of each month has been desigated dinner with the husband's family day. We swap off who's house it's going to be at each month. Whoever's house it's going to be at is in charge of "the meat and potatoes". My mother in law went as far as writing up a schedule of who is to bring what each month and where the dinner will be held at.

Lately the husband and my schedule has been really hectic. We haven't been eating until 7:30 - 8 many nights. Most nights my husband doesn't even get home until after 7 then he has to shower. Spring is here and work has just picked up especially in the fork lift mechanic area I guess. I'm guessing because we got "a schedule" we no longer recieve reminder calls to let us know that we are in charge of dinner that week or if it's at their house what we need to bring. Anyone that knows me knows that I NEED A REMINDER CALL. I am the most forgetful person and more times then not I double (sometimes triple) book my days.

Well Yesterday was our dinner with the in-laws. And of course I had forgotten. Even though the husband and I talked about it the night before I still forgot. I planned to go to the gym with my friend at 5:00. Dinner is always at 6:00 because my mother in law is a diabetic. I understand her condition and I know she needs to eat at a certain time, but ugh! I still forgot. I got stuck working over nine hours because I was training a new hire and my boss hadn't returned from her appointment. So when my husband called to see if I was cooking dinner and I was still at work we both got a little freaked.

Now for a little history lesson:
The husband isn't really a fan of his family. He never has been. He couldn't wait to move out of their house when we got married. I think he moved into our apartment a month before we got married just to get out of the house. My husband doesn't look anything like his family. He's athletic, he works out, he's a whole lot thinner and he's healthy. Having dinner with his family is painful, they talk about all the health problems that they have. And that's just his parents. His brother... oh wow where to start? His brother is 26 years old and hasn't had a job in the past 7 years (he did serve a 1 1/2 year mission during that time). As of late he can't even leave the basement where the big screen tv, 3 recliners, his bedroom and the bathroom are. He has so many health problems I dont even really want to go into it. He is easily over 400 pounds. We haven't seen him in 3-4 months. When we visited his parents house last month, my husband's brother was already in bed -- at 6:00 at night. The in-laws told us that they had taken him to dinner for his birthday and that was the first time he's been out of the house in 4 months. Did I mention that we don't like to go to their house because it smells. Yup it does. The last dinner that his brother attended (at his parents house) he had to sit in a recliner because he no longer can sit on the kitchen table chairs.

So back to Monday night dinner. Instead of cooking dinner I stopped to buy Papa Murphy pizzas. When I got home after 6:00 everyone was already there. No one was talking and I was already in a bad mood from traffic and having to rush home. We popped one of the pizzas in the oven and sat in the living room. In complete silence. Yeah fun times. The silence was eventually broken by the fire alarms in our house. Yes whenever we cook the fire alarms go off. And they are the fun ones that are all connected to each other so the entire house was beeping. There was no smoke, nothing was buring, our fire alarms just like to go off when we cook, especially since the genious that installed them put it RIGHT over the stove. So we enjoyed the ringing of every fire alarm going off in our house for a good 5 minutes. The husband and I are so use to it we just turn up the tv louder and wait till they turn off. But since we had guests over we had to be a little more proactive and try to get them to shut off.

The actual Dinner was pretty uneventful. Eventually they left and we went back to our regular scheduled lives. Until next month when we have to go to the next family dinner... ugh! At least it will be at their house we are usually in and out of there in an hour. Don't you just love the in-laws?!