Parenthood

"Oh mom, look at my butt my crack is showing"

awesome.

Blog on.........

Does it get better then this???

With all the work Matt and I have been doing this summer, it seemed like an endless craze of anxiety and lists of things to do. Through it all we just "keep on truckin'" because we know we are lucky to have jobs and the great life we have with our friends and family. I, personally, have been spending a lot of time re-evaluating life. A mid-life crisis of sorts. What stuff do I want to do?? I'm not getting any younger. This last week, life popped up and handed me a couple of great experiences that I just have to share!! I'm still tingly - hope you can tingle too!!

When I took the Airmed job, transporting heart devices, I thought the odds of me actually going on a flight were going to be slim. It's a new program and they are still working our the kinks. They basically have a list of people that are trained (10 of us) and we are all called and the first one that can go, gets to go.

Tuesday - I got to go!!!

THIS, my friends, was my ride to the airport. See the blue machine in the left hand corner? That's an Intra-aortic balloon pump. I went with the Airmed team to Boise, Idaho and picked up a patient that was on one and brought them to our hospital.

The experience was BEYOND exciting and very humbling. I learned so much! I was lucky enough to fly with someone I have known as long as I have worked at the U and felt a lot more comfortable. The process of transporting critically ill patients is so complicated. I enjoyed it all, even when my butt was puckerin' in fear!

Three months ago, I found out Slash (from Guns N' Roses) was going to play in San Francisco to kick off his USA tour. Daniel loves him and so I thought I would buy some tickets (reasonably priced) and Matt and I would take Daniel and Samantha on a long weekend to San Fran! (not so reasonably priced.)

It was all worth it. The concert was AMAZING!!

We were within 10 feet of this amazing guitarist.

Here he is with Myles Kennedy. Myles Kennedy sent me a personal "twitter" thanking me for coming to the show after I commented on his "twitter". Lets just say it made me all a twitter!!

Me. Slash.

Daniel. Slash. I love this picture!

Slash, Myles and the band put on a great show! They showcased some awesome talent and kept us entertained for over 2 hours!

Life is good. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Blog on.......

CONDO

Just a little condo update:

These pics are from off my phone.

Kitchen before we painted the cabinets. They are primed here and we are just painting them white. That is actually done now.

Yeah, at the end of one of my painting shifts. It's sitting on the new dishwasher.

All that is left is painting the trim and then I've finished the painting part. We have new carpet going in next Thursday. Matt needs to put up trim, the vanities, another toilet, dishwasher and put together the cabinets. WHEW!!

Blog on.......

Uncle Uncanny

My brother Dave has this stage he provides for various bands at various spots. The other day when I was at work he sent me a text.

This is my son, Jake. He has a band called, "Max Pain and the Groovies" and there he is on my brothers stage performing! cool eh? Jake is the one on the far left in a black hat and tank, playing the bass.

I was pretty excited about it. And look - there are THREE people watching!! haha

The band is actually really good. They sound sort of like the Door's, with a moshpit.

Blog on.........

Hoarders!

HOARDERS!!!

OK, we are not turning into hoarders, but unless you know us, you would be hard pressed to believe it!!

Here is the progress we have made in Sami's room. The sump pump is in, concrete back down and the walls back up - thanks to Matt with some help from Daniel and Austin! We also had some great help from John Q. - our favorite contractor and buddy!

Daniels room. Just a little sanding then we start on the priming and painting. The carpet goes back down in about 8 - 10 days.

Looks hoarderish, eh?? This is the view into our basement "kitchenette". The carpet is stacked up in rolls and Daniel's bed is leaned up against it.

Sami's temporary room. (Yeah, she is handing me a bowl of rice she doesn't want any more of, so I can take it up to the kitchen) I didn't get all my storage organized before the flood and we pushed everything out to the sides and threw down her mattresses. We were hoping to get them back into their rooms before school, but it's just not going to happen.

This is Daniel's temporary room. He's just piled all his clothes around him. Behind the couch is some curtains and on the other side of the curtains in where Sami is staying. It's tenuous at best, they get into a few tiff's here and there.

The hard work is paying off and the condo is almost painted and I plan to have the kids rooms painted before we leave for San Francisco. I am hoping to keep the crazy painting pace and finally get the bathrooms painted and the master bedroom. We might as well finish it off, eh? I think both Matt and I are over all the work and Home Depot runs. Especially Matt. He is putting in a lot more time and sweat then I am. I am excited about what we have done to the condo and know that in the end it's the best thing. Don't believe anyone that says - "all you need is a fresh coat of paint". Our fresh coat of paint turned into about 10 gallons! Thanks to my kids for helping out (for 10 bucks an hour!) I will get more pics up when I get them downloaded. We are taking lots of pics!!

Busy Busy Busy

I don't even feel bad that I haven't updated the blog. We have been really busy!!

Like my friend at work likes to say , "Like a fart in a skillet". Well, Matt and I have been two farts in a skillet. We had some pretty laid back family vacations planned this summer, which have been fantastic! When we aren't on those, we are bustin our hineys on projects that were basically thrown in our laps. Yippee!!!

The carpet was wet in the kids room, so we pulled it all up and discovered that we had a slow leak that had been going on for a bit on the north side of the house. Since then (about the first of July) we have cleared out the two bedrooms, ripped off half the walls and had a basement company come jackhammer around the edges and do some special drainage system with a sump pump. Now we just need to replace the walls, paint, re-lay the carpet and THEN the kids can move back in. Pictures to follow! Note: The day they jackhammered was a post-night shift day. With only earplugs, I slept the entire day all the way through the noise. I must have been super tired and I slept 12 hours that day!

When Rachelle and Chris moved out of the condo at the end of June, we thought we would do a little upgrading and finish a few things before renting it out. Heaven knows we can't sell a damn thing in this market. The updating has turned into a full blown overhaul! Matt hired a great friend of ours to do most of the hard stuff - plumbing, tile, etc. I have taken over the painting and I must say, my cut-in skills are almost perfect! I don't have to tape ANYTHING! So, every minute we have when we aren't working is spent working on one of the two projects along with things like laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning etc.

AND....I got another job!!! Let's hear it for Tres Jobs!!! I am loving it! I work at the U in the SICU, that is my base job with benefits, etc. Then I have my PRN job at Jordan/Pioneer Valley ICU's and I really like it. Less work and a lot more money!! The new addition to the job trifecta just makes me TINGLE!!! I am flying with Airmed to transport their cardiac devices!!! (Balloon Pumps, LVADs, etc.) OH yeah baby!! I am anxious to see how I do in the plane - and just anxious to fly!! I've done my training and trust me, it's a lot of making do and making the room you have work. Plus everything has to be super tied down in case of a bumpy ride. I am really hoping to get on with Airmed full time at some point. I just finally made that decision about 2 months ago. I was all wishy washy about it and then I finally thought, I have to shit or get off the pot. Let's make it happen so their is no regrets. I did interview for a PRN job, that they cancelled and didn't hire anyone. It was a wonderful experience and taught me just how much I need to know! So I have a list and I'm checking it twice....hoping for the best!

Matt is just super busy with the house projects and work. He's such a hard worker, THAT makes me tingle!! Woot Woot!!!

We are taking pics of our projects and hope to post them along with the pics from our vacations soon!! Stay in touch and let me know if you feel like doing a little painting, drywall, building, cleaning......

Blog on.........

Lake Powell

Great times with my family together at Lake Powell. Nothing better then wonderful family, warm water and sleeping under the stars.

I realize that you can hardly see a picture - I will post another that will take the best of the best pics and show you how the Taylor family can throw it down!!

Blog on......