Ooohh MY!

  Well, the title and picture basically say it all. My friend just recently found a guy after being divorced for a year. She has a full time job, does odd jobs on the side to make ends meet, and though she has custody of the kids ALL the time, she has to pay CHILD SUPPORT! Her ex found out that she found a guy she really likes, and the kids totally love, and he freaked. Although engaged himself, he tells her he misses her, wants her back, and disregards her rejections.

 Last week, she broke the news that she was moving in with this guy. He started freaking out even more, threatened to take full custody of the kids and said all kinds of horribly mean things to my friend. He then dragged me into the fight, saying that because I posted on a "dating" site that I was looking for friends and happily married, I was a cheater. He told my friend that I was no longer allowed around his children and that they'd be taken from her because she was an unfit mom. My friend talks to me about her problems, as friends do, and because I live in a house with my sister and my parents as well, it's easy for conversations to be overheard. My sister got sick of it and sent this guy a private message without my knowledge. Later that day, I get a phone call from my friend saying she's going to have to fire me because in their divorce agreement, they have to agree on child care, and he refused to let me watch the kids. She asked about what my sister sent him, and I told her that I had no clue what it said, that I didn't even know she did until now. I told her that I shouldn't be punished for the actions of my siblings and family members and wanted to know why he was so against me watching the kids.
  I started crying, telling her it wasn't because I was losing the kids, but because I was afraid for her and the kids, that they don't deserve what he's doing to them and it hurts to see them go through it. She said she understands, and plans on taking him to court. Today, I got the kids, and get them tomorrow for the last time. It breaks my heart to see them go, considering I've been watching the oldest (5yrs) since she was 4mo. my heart broke even more when I told this little kiddo that I wouldn't be watching her anymore, and she frowned, saying " I don't want anyone else to watch me but you." It's hard to explain the grown up aspects to a 5yr old who sees you as her best friend. Only time will tell what comes of everything, I can't change things, tell my friend what to do, or even fix anything, but I can, and will continue to , pray for them. It's not fair that people like that "man" can get away with what he does, and everyone else has to pay for it, especially his children, whom he only really sees as bargaining chips.

Wedded Bliss

  Ok, some of you may not find the humor in all this, that's fine, but I just have to share this story with you, it really cracked me up. For those of you who know, my friend's ex husband is psycho, and completely NUTS! Last night when she picked her kids up, she told me that he said I was cheating on my husband because I had a profile on a dating site. I laughed, just laughed at what he'd told her, because she already knew I had a profile and the whole story behind that profile, here's that story:

A few months back, my friend said that she'd looked at a site, www.plentyoffish.com and found her ex's profile on there. She told me that it was established while they were still married, before their son came along and then proceeded to tell me what he was "looking for" on that site. Of course, after getting off the phone with her and talking to my husband, curiosity got the best of us, and we started searching the site for him. Almost immediately, I got "red tape" so to speak, as I couldn't look at any profiles unless I made one myself. I got the hubby, we sat down and opened up a profile. It stated that I am happily married, that we were looking for friends, and that was all. As soon as that was set up, I found my friend's ex, and sure enough, his profile was established long before their youngest kid was born, that he'd been looking for a possible long term relationship and other lies on there. My husband and I just laughed, thinking that whomever answered that profile was in for a big surprise the moment they spent an hour with the guy.
   After that night, my husband and I totally forgot about POF, didn't check to see if there were any messages, nor did I de-activate my profile. Honestly, I didn't even think much of it or how it looks, until last night. After my friend left with her kids, my husband and I got onto the POF site, and looked at the profile again to see if there was something I did to make people think I was cheating. The only thing I did wrong was put a picture of just ME as my profile photo, so I changed it to my wedding pic. I also put that we were looking for a friendship in bold letters. I don't feel guilty about anything, see nothing wrong with my profile, and I'm pretty sure that in the very near future, I'm gonna remove my profile, but right now, it's fun to know it gets under this guy's skin. I hope you guys found this as funny as my husband and I did. Enjoy!

Oh My CANDY CORN

  Ok, so I am chowing down on some Candy Corn late at night, when all of a sudden I run across this bad boy.  I won't lie, I"m a little bit of a perve, and couldn't resist showing it to everyone. I almost gave it to Kaitlynn, as I know she likes candy, but just couldn't bring myself to doing it.
  Instead, I took this picture, without thinking, posted it on my Facebook, and then ended up deleting it from there the next day as a mother of one of my Primary kids reminded me that I have youngsters on my friends list that shouldn't see that. Normally I would have edited it, created an exclusive list of people who are allowed to see it, but couldn't do that on my phone so I just deleted it.
  I've decided to keep it, who knows what I'll do with it in the future. One thing I know is that it's definately wise to watch what you eat. Some people wonder if it was made like that on purpose, but I believe that they're not hand made. Anyway, the little pervert in me came out. I just couldn't bring myself to eating this little thing, but had to show you.

My Best Friend

 I will never forget September 1, as it was a very sad day for me. The only happy moment in that day was when I got to go to Heather's ultra-sound, and listen to Kaitlynn ask, after being shown the "boy part" on the baby, "he doesn't have clothes on?" Heather and I laughed at that, and it took away my worries a little.

  Before we went to the Ultra-Sound, we discovered a grim problem with Mason. He couldn't use his back end very well. He struggled to walk, couldn't keep his balance and was very disoriented. I gave him some tylonal to ease his pain while I was at the ultra sound, but when I got back, my heart shattered when I saw that he had proceeded to go down hill. He began to lose control of his bladder, was really drooling, and couldn't walk at all. I called the vet and we got him in within an hour.
  The Vet confirmed that Mason had some kind of Neurological damage that could have been caused by a stroke or even cancer. They didn't know for sure, and wouldn't know for sure unless they ran blood work. At that moment, as I began to let the tears flow, I looked at how much my sweet boy was suffering, and then tearfully told the Vet that it'd be better to just let him go. I figured what's the point of spending more money, just to confirm that he was at the end of his road, and continue keeping him in pain while we found a diagnosis. I looked my best friend, my baby boy in the eyes, and knew this is what he wanted too. When the vet and his tech left the room, Dave brought Kaitlynn , Heather and Troy into the room to say their goodbyes. Kaitlynn kissed his head, told him she loved him, and then left to play again. The tears started flowing when I watched Troy with him.  He gave Mason the biggest hug he could, said "Bye bye, I love you" in the clearest voice he could, and they left the room. Dave followed behind, leaving me alone to say my farewells.
  I looked my sweet baby boy in the eyes, and for 1 minute, they focused on me, taking in what I was saying, and in a way, telling me that he loved me so much. I knew I was making the right decision, that he was grateful, and then, after laying my blanket on the ground for him, he got onto it, lied on my lap, and I held his head, hugging him, talking sweetly to him, and crying. That's how they found me when they came in to euthanize him. Mason didn't struggle when they put the needle in, like he usually would, he looked at me as if to thank me, then he was gone. My heart left with him, and I knew that life would never be the same again. They gave him a little more drugs after that, to make sure that he really was gone, and while we were waiting for the tech to get back with them, I happened to catch the song playing on the radio, and told the Vet it wasn't a good song to play at the moment. It was "Let Her Cry" by Hootie and the Blowfish. I bawled and bawled, knowing my best friend, that sweet little puppy that won so many people over in his life, had to move on to another adventure without me, and it killed me.
  We wrapped the blanket around him, put him on a stretcher and carried him to the truck. When we got home, Dad had the grave dug, and ready for Mason. Kaitlynn and I kissed him one last time, and watched as he was burried. Things haven't been the same since. I have a hard time when I leave because when I get back, I expect to be greeted at the door with his big smile, happy to see me, but it's not there. I get up in the morning, look on the floor to make sure I don't step on him, but he's not there. A lot of people don't really understand the bond he and I had, yes, he was a pet, to most people, but to me, he was so much more than that. He was a protector, a companion, a friend, and the love of my life. I didn't want to let go of him, but had to, and look forward to the day I'll get to see him again. For now, like I told him in that little exam room, he's taking care of my kids, looking down on me, making sure I"m ok. I know that with time, I will be able to move on, and that he's not suffering anymore. I miss him so much more than I even imagined, and am taking things one day at time.

"The greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention to one another's exixtance."
 
Mason, you truly did that to me. You were by me through thick and thin, were my best friend and was always there for me. I miss you and love you so much!

7 Years and Counting.....

 Well, Dave and I have made it to our 7yr mark, at least as an official married couple. We've been together for 10 full years, and yesterday marked our 7th Anniversary. This year was the first time I've looked forward to our trip we take. Maybe it's because we didn't have a honeymoon, or the "Anniversary Trips" we've taken have been "fly by the seat of our pants" type of trips, where they're last minute and poorly planned. 
  This year, I sat down and decided to plan it, and what we'd be doing. Our destination: Salt Lake City, Ut. When Dave got his check, we logged in to Priceline, named our price and were booked at the Little America for a total of $155. I was excited to be staying 2 nights in a 4 star hotel for such a little price. I then got online and looked into things we could do that was inexpensive and we'd both enjoy doing. 
  I kind of wanted to avoid doing a lot at Temple Square, as we go there every time we go to Salt Lake, and Dave was tired of going to zoos, so I looked up other things. I found This is The Place Heritage Monument's website, and saw that they were having a "Real Mountain Man" exhibit while we were there. I figured we could afford the $20 as a couple to go to it, and put it on the "to do " list. Then we planned on going to see Pirates of The Caribbean 3D, check a few other places out and just unwind from everything. The day we got ready to go went pretty rough for me, we had some unexpected expenses, stress levels shot through the roof, and I was just ready to give up. As soon as we hit the road, I started to unwind and just enjoy my time with my husband. I annoyed the crap out of Dave with the music choice, constant talk about kids and everything else, and then lost myself in taking pictures and thinking. 
  Once we were in Salt Lake and got things going, we had a wonderful weekend, though we returned home with no money but fully relaxed and happy. I'm looking forward to another 40+years with Dave, and hope he feels the same way. If you're interested on our activities from our anniversary, check out Jester's Jungle at www.jestermason.blogspot.com in the next day or two.

Goodbye is Forever...

 Shakspeare  said it best when he said "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Yesterday Dante went to his new home, and it was harder than I thought to let him go. 
 Origionaly the lady was to get him today, but we rushed at getting him ready and Heather and "Monroe" drove him to his new home. Dave came up to say goodbye, and it really yanked at my heart strings to watch my husband cry, really cry, over a dog that he said he'd have no problems parting with. 
  I let his new owner know how we've been feeding him, what he needs, who is Vet is and anything else that she wanted to know. I told her that she could feed him what and how he wanted, that at first, he'd have the runs and gas until his body adjusted. She said that was fine, and asked if we could keep in touch just in case she has anymore questions. I told her that we'd absolutely love that, then were given the invitation to visit Dante anytime we wanted. She was also told that if it didn't work out, she could bring him back here and we'd re-home him if we didn't have a place of our own.
  I wanted so bad to tell Dave "I told you so" when he kept saying he was not as attached to Dante as I am to Mason, but just couldn't bring myself to do so. We know this was the right decision for him, and the best thing as well. We're not giving up on him, but giving him a better quality of life that he needs.

It Rains, It Pours-Literally

Over the past few months we've been blessed with a lot of rain, too much for the rivers actually.  We've had so much rain that the rivers have been flooding pretty bad, and this picture is just a little idea of what I'm talking about. This is a picture of a picnic table at Sacajawea Park. It's results of the Portneuf River flooding, and I was standing at least 10ft away from it. 
  
I know that it's not the best thing, but I love looking at the extent of the floods around, and how it effects the environment around us. While at Sacajawea Park, we couldn't wander very far without being stopped by water, but once again, I started thinking and told Dave that God knows what he's doing. I was told that some think that God is angry, and that may be true, but though it can and probably is causing LOTS of damage, but it's so beautiful to see. Lately, this is what I've been doing when I need to unwind. IF it's not cold or raining, I'll just take a walk, and take pictures of anything that spark my interest, otherwise I get into the truck and we drive to a spot and I shoot whatever intrigues me. I always find a sense of peace and closer to my maker when I'm outdoors, away from the rush of life and things.