Home Sweet Home

It has been an entirely long couple of days...

Saturday mom, andrew, kara and myself headed out to Helena to visit with Bryan, Lisa and Noah for his birthday. The party was nice but way too hot. We all enjoyed the visit inside. :) I got some cute pictures of Noah and the video of his birthday song.

Sunday I had sharing time in primary. I was glad to have that over with. Took too much time. Then right after church we had to rush home, pack and get up to the airport. We flew out to Houston, TX to bring back a fire truck. Storms were beating down on Houston on Sunday and our flight got delayed from 5pm to 8pm. We did not get to our hotel until very late and not to bed until midnight. Then traffic delayed our meeting with the dealer. We did not get out of Houston until 10am the following morning to begin out long 14 hr drive. By 10pm, Ben and I had just about had enough. We were too tired to even make it to Birmingham. We ended up in a hotel about 40-50 miles outside of Birmingham. We did not want the expense of another night in a hotel but it beat us being dangerous on the road, so we just got up early and drove in the next morning. I'm grateful to be home.

So here are some things we learned on our trip across the south:

Texas is nothing special, muggy, and hot

Louisiana roads are horrible

A bayou is what we would call a creek but sometimes can be a swamp.

Riding in the middle of a bench seat that has hardly been sat on and still has very good springs after 12 years can make for a very roller coaster like ride on Louisiana's bumpy roads. (Yes my head came close to hitting the roof numerous times. haha)

Mississippi has nothing new to offer...roads comparable to Louisiana.

Alabama...well...I think the nutty clerks at the gas station summed up Alabama in their behavior alone...nutty people.

Tennessee.....beautiful home sweet home...even if we are in a drought.

FINALLY!!!

I'm just tickled pink today. We got our car back today. Ben surprised me with it this afternoon. Ford forgot to change our oil so Ben had to take it back this afternoon. The guy who has been supervising our car getting fixed (Mike), has been wonderful to work with. He was wanting to give us the oil change free. His manager did not. So Mike told him that he had to tell Ben that because he refused to tell Ben that we did not get a free oil change even after they had our car for 2 weeks.

So the guy came over and told Ben that he would not get it free. Ben said, "The heck you will." Ben told the guy that he better get us a free oil change or Ben would not only give him an unfavorable review and he would also personally go talk to Mike Thompson the owner. The guy freaked a little bit and walked away. A little while later, Mike Thompson just happened to walk back to the service department. Ben walked up to him and started talking to him. He asked what car we bought and if we liked it. Ben told him that we loved our car. So he asked why it was in the shop and Ben explained. Mr. Thompson said, well let's see what we can do about getting you a free oil change. Ben pointed over the the head manager and said, "he told me I couldn't get a free oil change." haha that guy came running over to Mr. Thompson and said, no no no we are giving him a free oil change. Then Mr. Thompson gave Ben an $20 dollar gas card. Then Mike, the guy who had been working on our car, took Ben over to the parts department and gave him a huge discount on some floor mats and bug shields that we had wanted. He gave us like a 50% discount.

Long and the short of it is, I'm glad to have my car back.

Swimming with Caitlin

We had such a blast Saturday with Caitlin. She is such a hoot. We took her swimming at my inlaws. Everyone had fun. Caitlin loved the floats best. Check out the link for more photos.

http://volstate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2091934&l=c17de&id=38401037

Getting outta here...

So today we are going up to Opryland Hotel with Brittany and Jay for their engagement pictures. Shannon asked me to help her out. I thought it would be fun and it gets me out of this house. I get so bored sometimes and feel locked in. So we are going to Nashville... (I know, such simple highlights in my life).
So we got some interesting news the other day. Ben found out that the fire chief at winchester quit. They are hiring in July for the new chief. He could be from within or from surrounding areas. If they hire from within, that means a fire fighter position opens up and most the guys on the department knew Ben deserved the next slot, so we are hoping that he might get his chance soon! With this chief leaving it also means that the department might change a bit and become better organized than it was before. Hopefully no more bubba system. Pray for him!

Paramedic school is almost over. I know Ben can't wait!

Holy Cow Batman, A Seizure!!

Ok, so when I came into work tonight, I was not exactly expecting what I got...

We have a mentally retarded patient in our sleep center tonight. She was actually pretty easy to work with. We bonded really quickly and got her into bed with no problems. Ashlie and I went off to work on another patient and I left my patient under the watchful eye of her caregiver while I was with another patient. While doing the other set up we heard this noise that sounded like a dog barking. I got curious and went to check it out. Around the corner came her care giver telling me "She's had a Seizure!" I'm thinking...uhh..crap I don't know what to do. So we run to her room and watch her to make sure she doesn't hurt herself (or our expensive equipment). After she ripped my setup off her face I had to reapply everything. Now I am watching the poor girl like a hawk to make sure nothing else happens.

Meanwhile Ashlie's patient is the needliest lady in the world! We had to rearrange her whole room because she claimed she can't sleep in a bed and only sleeps in recliners. Then on top of all that, she is claustrophobic and can't have her door closed so we have to be SUPER quiet to keep from waking her...

Now I'm trying to relax and get rid of my splitting headache that I've had since the night began...

Brother Jay

Not too much is going on this week other than Jay coming into town. Brittany and Jay come in on Wednesday night and will be here through Sunday I believe. It will be nice to meet my future brother in law. Saturday we plan on just hanging on and Ben and I get to watch Caitlin while Shannon does a wedding.

Next Saturday I am going to go with mom to Noah's birthday party. That should be fun. I haven't been to Birmingham yet so I look forward to that. Unfortunately Ben has to work.

I have to really kick it in gear this month because I have my big Sleep Registry exam coming up at the end of the month. It's time to cram!! We'll see how it all goes.