A little venting

Ugh, any dicussion of healthcare makes me really angry.  I have to try to avoid it during polite conversation because this ugly side of me comes out.  I get so frustrated when I hear or get the feeling from people that doctor visits and other healthcare is just something they shouldn't have to pay for.  I really don't understand that thinking.  Do people think that they can go to the gas station and get gas and not pay for it, or buy a house and not pay for it?  It really gets my blood boiling. 

For the last few years our healthcare has been a huge payment for us.  But I understand how much schooling doctors go through to get where they are and it's not an easy profession, so I feel like it's ok to pay for good care.  I really like my eye doctor and feel very comfortable with the way he is watching my glaucoma issues.  I also travel 35 min to my OBs office because I really trust my doctors there and feel like I get really good care.  So I am willing to pay for good care because it's important.  But it is still expensive. 

We have shopped and shopped around and we were able to lower our monthly premiums from a house payment amount to a nice car payment in exchange for an outrageously high deductible.  Which brings me to the whole reason for my post. 

I had a doctor's appt today and stopped in at the hospital to talk to the financial office about prepaying for my hospital stay.  I wanted to know if they offered a discount for a non insurance prepay.  The fabulous news is that they do! They offer a 40 percent discount if you pay before you leave the hospital.  That was great news except that the quote she gave me still made my stomach turn.  Anyway, as I drove home I was thinking about this question.  If this 40 percent discount is a price that the hospital is willing to accept, why is that not the basic charge?  Why do they charge more just because you have insurance?  These non-insurance discounts are very common, so I really want to know why they don't just use the discounted price as their base price.  I'm really hoping that someone reading this deals with insurance or hospitals and can explain this to me.  Please??  I'm tired of feeding into these insurance companies.

The saddest day in July

For the most part, I have gotten used to year round school.  There are a lot of things I really like about it.  The thing I really hate though is sending my kids back to school in July.  It is really hard when we are still in summer mentality.  Plus, I like having my kids home with me so it makes me sad to send them off.  Today was that fateful day.  We had two very different reactions from two very different kids. 

Kate was very excited.  Mostly because her good friend is in her same class, but also because she really likes school.  She plays school at home a lot.

She was all smiles and very hyper this morning!

Matt, however, was a big grump.  He has been dreading this day.  There was nothing I could say to get him to even feel a bit excited.   

At least we got to have a little fun the day before.  One thing I love about Utah is that July 24th is a state holiday.  July is just a month that needs two major holidays.  We headed up to Snowbird to get out of the heat and enjoy the fun up there.  There was a quick, light rain storm that came through, and it felt so good.  It was so nice to not be so hot and miserable.

We let the kids choose one activity and the girls both chose the bungee trampolines.  Kate was really good at getting high jumps.  She was trying so hard to do a back flip.  She kept landing on her back or her head.  She managed to sort of do one, but it was a little frustrating for her. 

 Sara, on the other hand, figured out the back flip quick, but she wasn't as good at getting good, high jumps.  They both had a great time though and that was the point.

Matt chose the alpine slide.  He had fun and was really glad he did that. 

The only silver lining on this back to school cloud is that this was a major milestone on my getting this baby here list.  After this, the next major event is my birthday and then I'm down to less than a month.  I'm not quite ready to say the end is in sight, but at least I know time is still moving on!

How to earn some money

For his birthday, Matt spent a little of his money on a pack of baseball cards.  He has loved them and looks at them frequently.  When my sister was here a couple of weeks ago, she took him on a special outing to Office Max to buy him a binder and card holder sheets.  He has loved them.  She told him how her boys would organize the cards different ways and sure enough, he's done the same.  He was so disappointed when she came because they came late one night and slept in and he had to get up early for Cub camp so he didn't get to see her sons.  The one question he wanted to ask them is where they get their baseball cards.  Well, he has since found a place online to buy the entire 2012 season.  It includes each major league team and all the players.  It costs 60 dollars, which he is close to saving for, but not quite.  So he has been asking for extra jobs to do to earn more money.  I told him all the jobs he does, he gets paid for with his allowance so I wasn't going to pay him anymore.  Then he started asking if he could even earn just another penny for each job.  Fine. 

Well he got the idea to have a lemonade stand.  I admit I was feeling too tired to be excited about it, but we've never had one so I agreed.  The deal was though he had to split the money with the girls.  They were all really excited about it.  Matt was a huge help getting everything ready and the girls were so good at waving and smiling at cars and getting them to stop! 

 It was a hot day so we had to take a couple of breaks to help ourselves to our awesome kool-aid and lemonade!

 Matt did a good job making the sign, but he was pretty wimpy about holding it.  The girls, however, did such a good job dancing around with it and waving at cars. 

We did it at a place nearby where there is a three way stop.  It started off pretty slow and the kids were hoping to make 50 cents each, but all of a sudden it picked up.  They had a great time!  We saw a lot of people we knew and they all paid a little extra.  We had a policeman stop by for a cup.  We also had two Mormon missionaries stop by.  We offered to give it to them for free but they insisted on paying.  Very kind, but in exchange they got my number so they could call me later to see if I had some names of people they could teach.  That made me laugh. 

In the end the stand was very successful and they each earned 7.50.  They were very excited about that.  In fact, Matt wanted to do another one in a couple of days.  I said no and now he's stuck waiting to earn the last of his money!  Poor kid!

The funnest summer day I was dreading

At the beginning of my pregnancy, Jerry and the kids made the realization that I'd already thought of.  I'd be pregnant for our day to Lagoon and wouldn't be able to ride any rides.  Of course that didn't deter anyone from wanting to go.  So I knew I would have fun watching everyone else have fun, but it wouldn't be my favorite day of the summer. 

Our discount tickets were for July 4th which we were actually really excited about.  We had never been on the 4th, but we'd heard it was actually one of their least busy days.  We were hoping that would be true and couldn't wait to find out.  Well, they couldn't wait to find out!

We did plan on doing the water park, Lagoon A Beach, because I could at least sit in the water there.  It was fun and felt good and the kids had a great time.  It broke up the day and took up some time which was a good thing because as it turns out, the rumors were right and the 4th of July is a fabulous time to go to Lagoon!  We were shocked at how unbusy it was and how short all the lines were. 

We got to Lagoon right on time when it opened and realized we'd forgotten our bag with the swimming suits and towels.  Ugh!  I really hate it when that happens.  We planned everything so carefully, but Jerry wasn't going to let that ruin our day so he made the short trip home to get the bag while I took the kids to all the Kiddie Land rides.  They were so excited.  I just love it.  It was so fun watching them.  Even though I just had to watch it was fun to watch their excitement.

Soon enough Jerry was back with us and they rode a few rides.  Sara was dying to ride Bombara and missed Aunt Peggy taking her like last year.  As I was watching them, I realized my dream was coming true.  Since only they could ride and there was 4 of them, no one had to ride by themselves!  It was so perfect.  Matt and Kate were buddies and Jerry and Sara rode together.  They all really enjoyed that.  Now we just need to get this little baby here and hurry and have himher grow enough to ride and no one will ever have to ride by themselves again!!

Here are these two buddies.  They had a lot of fun together.  Jerry tried really hard to talk Matt into riding Wicked and Colossas and some of the other real roller coasters.  In fact, there was a bribe of a Todd Helton jersey if Matt would ride them.  At first, Matt said yes, but when he saw the rides he said no way.  So Jerry did ride those ones by himself, but the great thing is, he only had to wait 5 or so minutes to get on those rides so we got to watch him.  Seriously, a perfect day, have I mentioned that? 

 Everyone rode the rides multiple times.  By the end of the day the kids were more brave and raising their arms on the rides.  This picture cracks me up.  Sara is in the chair on the right and she has her arms behind her head.  She's just chilling on the swings!  So funny.  Normally, we stay until the rides are closing, but since we didn't have to wait they'd ridden the rides enough times and everyone was ready to go soon after 9.  So we came home to our neighbors shooting off fireworks and ended the evening with them.  It was a pretty good 4th of July.  Lagoon might be our annual 4th of July activity!

How well do my kids know me?

I asked my kids these questions 3 years ago.  Here's the post if you want to read their answers.  I was looking back through my blog and found this post and decided I really needed to ask them again.  I thought Sara's answers were the best.  Matt was a little bored by it.  When did he turn too cool?
1. What is something your mom always says to you?

Matt: Do some reading.

Kate: Put my clothes away.

Sara: Go clean up your room.  Cuz every night you say that to me.

No one chose "I love you"?  Bummer.

2. What makes your mom happy?

Matt: When I do the dishes.

Kate: Me putting my clothes away unasked.

Sara: By me going to church and singing the loudest.

3. What makes your mom sad?

Matt: When I don't do the dishes.

Kate: Me not putting my clothes away.

Sara: By me not helping you out.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

Matt: By tickling me.

Kate: By tickling me and giving me zerberts.
Sara: By making funny faces at me.
Apparently, I tickle my kids a lot!

5. What was your mom like as a child?

Matt: I don't know.

Kate: I don't know.

Sara: You were like having fun with your mommy.

6. How old is your mom?
Matt: 34

Kate: 34

Sara: 29
Sara, YES!

7. How tall is your mom?

Matt: 5 foot 4.

Kate: 5 feet 4 feet.

Sara: Ok, I don't know that.  Let me guess.  You are 4 feet.

8. What is her favorite thing to do.

Matt: Do puzzles.

Kate: Sew

Sara: Watch Team Umizoomi with Sara.

Well, not really close.  I only do a puzzle once a year, I NEVER sew and I only like watching Team Umizoomi so that Sara and I can snuggle and maybe I can close my eyes for a few minutes.  That happened a lot this spring when I was sick.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Matt: I don't know.  Miss me.

Kate: Umm, work.

Sara: Ok, I don't know. Let me guess.  Do you cry?  Me: Not usually.  Sara:  But you do miss me.

I never do something fun?

10. If your mom gets famous, what will it be for?

Matt: The best mom ever.

Kate: A famous t.v. show person.

Sara: Telling them my name.

Thanks, Matt.

11. What is your mom really good at?

Matt: Great at watching Rockies games.

Kate: Entertaining me.
Sara: You're taking time off running so not that.  Umm, I think you're good at grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping?  Probably only because I let her bring a quarter and buy a gumball each week.

12. What is your mom not very good at?

Matt: Running at the moment.

Kate: Running right now.

Sara: Running, cuz you're taking days off cuz you have a baby in your stomach.

True that.

13. What does your mom do for a job?

Matt: You take care of girls at a place.

Kate: Take care of girls at this place.

Sara: Work.

Funny that I spend way more time working at home then I do at Vista but they don't recognize that as work.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?

Matt: Nachos

Kate: Tacos

Sara: Ok, can it just be tomato soup? Cuz that's mine.  I don't know any food you like, it could be salad.

Sure Sara, I like tomato soup, and salads, but I really love a juicy hamburger!

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

Matt: Does the dishes on the nights that aren't my dish night.

Kate: By playing with me.

Sara: Watching gymnastics

I don't think they understood my explanation of "proud".

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Matt: Phineas

Kate: Spongebob

Sara:  Let me ask my little guys (her imaginary friends).  My little guys say you would be Millie in Team Umizoomi.

Thanks Sara.  You saved me from being a yellow sponge with a triangle head.

17. What do you and your mom do together?

Matt: Watch baseball games on t.v.

Kate: Play dollhouse.

Sara: Ok, I know just what it is, Play dollhouse.

Remind me to ask Matt these questions when he's not watching a baseball game.

18. How are you and your mom the same?

Matt: We both have glasses.

Kate: We're both girls.

Sara: Your hair is down to your shoulders and my hair is down to my shoulders.  Our hair is the same.

19. How are you and your mom different?

Matt: Everything.

Kate: I have longer hair than you.
Sara: You have glasses and I don't.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Matt:  She wasn't feeling too good and she went and got me some Cub Scout stuff to glue my patches onto my uniform.

Kate: By letting me watch two movies on the same day.  Cuz you once letted me do that.

Sara:  I don't know that word.  Well, by you helping me out.
Kate, some people might consider that me not loving you.  Glad you enjoyed it!

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?

Matt: That he's my husband.

Kate: That he's my husband.

Sara: Can it be playing out in the snow and making snowmans?

Apparently I need to praise Jerry a little more.  This was a hard one for them.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?

Matt: To Bees games with me.

Kate:  Go to a restaurant.

Sara:  Can it please be Lagoon when you're not pregnant?

Sara, good idea.  That's is a fun place!

The perfect pet

Sara is just a lover of animals.  She really cracks me up.  We were at a friend's house a couple of weeks ago and they had recently obtained some chickens.  I just cracked up watching her with them.  She had no fear of them.  She loved picking them up and chasing after them.  She was very concerned with them getting into the flowers so she made it her job to make sure that they stayed out.  Easier said than done, but she had fun catching them and bringing them to me.  She is such a cute girl!  I just love her to pieces!

Boredom Busters

With my kids only having 6 weeks of summer, I don't hear them complaining about being bored too often.  It's because we have to cram all of our summer acitivites into that short of time.  But my kids are normal so I do hear it sometimes.  Matt decided one day that he wanted to draw all of the MLB team symbols.  He worked on it for a couple of hours.  I was really impressed with his drawing.  I thought he did a great job drawing them all.  Some of them are a little tricky!  It was a great acitivity for a morning!

Tour De Donut

Jerry is always keeping his eyes open for fun bike races.  He has seen this Tour De Donut before but has never raced in it, but he thought this year that Matt might have some fun racing in it.  It's a fun, non-competitive race.  What makes it fun is the donuts.  The race is three laps.  Each lap is 7 miles so 21 total.  After each lap you have the chance to eat donuts.  Each donut you eat subtracts 3 minutes off your total time.  Of course some bikers were really serious about racing, but the donuts are definitely a highlight.  Jerry really didn't think Matt would ride it because it is 21 miles, but Matt was pretty open to it from the start.  In fact, he became really excited about it.



Here they are at the start.  Jerry was so great to ride with him.  It would be so hard for me to jog a running race, but Jerry was totally patient with Matt.  On the first lap Jerry said Matt said he wasn't going to eat a donut, but then halfway through the lap he said he was hungry and looking forward to eating a donut, in fact he was going to eat two.



Here they are coming in after their first lap.  Matt was all smiles which was a great sign! 

Eating donut number one. 

Eating donut number 2 with Jerry.  Jerry ate two donuts after each lap.  That is huge for him because he doesn't even like donuts!

Here they are after lap 2.  Still smiles from Matt which was a huge relief.  By this time a lot of people were finishing their 3rd lap and I was afraid Matt was going to call it a day, but that wasn't even an option.  He even ate another donut.

This picture is with The Fat Cyclist.  He is the main sponsor of this race.  He is a local guy who started a blog and has become a little famous in the biking world.  He has been invited to ride with some big wigs and has always just had fun with biking.  His first wife died from cancer and he does a lot of benefit rides for cancer and such.  I'm not sure what this one benefits, but something.  Jerry has read his blog for years and was excited to get to meet him!

The girls were troopers.  We had fun spotting all the costumes people were wearing.  Our favorites were the ones with donuts around their helmets and the guy who had some random toy stuck to the top of his helmet.  They also were happy to get snowcones and flashlights to play with.  They were very excited when the spectators got to eat the leftover donuts!

End of the race and thumbs up.  Matt was very tired, but so happy he'd done it.  Jerry said the last lap was a bit rough, but he spotted a lady pulling a bike stroller and so he had Matt focus on her until they passed her!  That's my boy!  Jerry also said Matt was licking his biking gloves because they had gotten donut glaze on them and "they tasted good!"  Eww!

I was so so proud of him.  21 miles is a long way!  He is a really tough kid.  He said his legs felt like jello afterwards.  The rest of the day he pretty much just sat and played wii.  This morning he said his legs were still sore.  I'm just so proud of him doing something hard, not giving up and pushing to the end.  I can't wait to join them next year!

Summer in Durango

I always look forward to going to Durango in the summer.  Matt especially was excited to go on the cattle drive.   He looks forward to it all year.  I'm not sure any of the rest of us share his enthusiasm quite as much, at least for the cows.  But Kate and Sara fell in love with Grandpa's horses.  Fox has had a broken leg and so this trip was a get back in the saddle (no pun intended) trip for him.  Sara and I got to hold him while they were unloading the cows.

I'm guessing my kids weren't the only ones missing Grandpas's six wheeler.  They all had to pile in the back of Uncle Jay's truck instead. 

After a nice drive in, where I paid zero attention to cows and had a nice chat with Lucy instead, we stopped for lunch/dinner and let the kids ride horses all around. 

Sara was very excited to ride Fox after holding him for a while in the morning.  She is such a lover of animals.  She was neighing for several days after and even offered Grandpa a quarter for his horse.  Of course you might laugh at that, but you don't know the power of a quarter in Sara's world.  It equals a gumball at the grocery store which is a BIG deal!

Kate instead rode Wave.  She has ridden him before and insisted on riding him again.  He is a very pretty horse and I love his full name, Wave Goodbye I'm Gone. 

Matt rode Jet.  This is the only horse Matt has ever ridden so no reason to break with tradition!   

 The first day at Grandpa's Sara hooked up with Micheal and Jacob.  She thought they were pretty cool even though she didn't know which one was which.  She would just talk about which shirt they were wearing and that was how she identified them.  Pretty sure she's not the only one who's done that!   And just so you know Michael's on the left and Jacob's holding her.  Yes!

 Sara also had fun with her cousin Ethan. Two pretty cute kids!

After the cattle drive we spent a few days around Durango.  It was a lot of fun and nice and relaxing.  We headed up north to Silverton one day.  I've been there many times, but never done a mine tour so we decided to check one out.  It was fun.

This is a picture of an elevator they used to get to different levels of the mine.  I would never be able to get in one of these in pitch black dark.

We rode a little train into the mine.  As we're going in and it's getting dark I was having to remind myself that everything was going to be ok, people tour this all the time and nothing happens, the walls are not closing in on me, there will be enough oxygen for everyone to breathe and it will not collapse on us.  I talked myself through it pretty well!

The best part of the mine tour was panning for gold afterwards.  Kate and Sara could have stayed there all day finding little pieces of "gold".  Matt found one cool rock and he was satisfied.  But the weather was nice and it was enjoyable to just sit and let the girls go to work!

After lunch at Handlebar's (mmm buffalo burger) we walked around and saw the train.  I love the train.  I always have.  I think it is truly amazing!  Someday I'll brave the trip with my kids, but for now we'll just stick with pictures of the engine.

Of course we got to spend time at Grandma's too.  Sara had fun with her cousin Daniel.  It was interesting to see her interact with him.  She hasn't been around babies much, none of my friends have little babies so it was cute to see her get down on his level and make him laugh!  Holding him made me so excited for our baby and it made the time seem even farther away.

The highlight at Grandma's house was the trampoline.  All the kids, but especially Kate and Sara spent a lot of time jumping on it.  In this picture was one of those moments when everyone is getting along and laughing and truly enjoying life.  Priceless!

One afternoon, while Matt and Jerry were riding bikes, we turned the sprinklers on the trampoline and the girls LOVED it!  It was so fun for them and so nice for me to sit and talk with my mom while the girls were having fun.  Sara taught herself how to do a front flip on the tramp.  This picture is a bit of a fail but I get so proud of her when she just does things and figures them out herself!

We also, of course, had to have dinner at Serious Texas.  It would not be a trip to Durango without it!  I love seeing these two boys together!

Jerry got to spend a lot of time mountain biking.  I was so glad he was able to find some good trails, go with a new person and especially take Matt along.  Jerry took Matt on the Colorado trail, which incidentally was the first trail I ever mountain biked on.  I was happy to share my love of it.  The girl's and I were happy to meander along the trail far behind them.  We had a great time!  We waded in the creek a little bit.  We spotted fish and watched them for a while, we petted all the thousands of dogs that walked past us, we talked and truly enjoyed the walk.  The best part is NO snakes!!  I was keeping an eye out for them.  I have spent more time running this trail than biking and have seen a few along the way.  In fact, I usually skip the lower part of the trail and start a little further on where it's steeper and less slitherable.  But the cards were in our favor and it was just a great afternoon.  Matt and Jerry also had a great time.  I love to see Matt's confidence improve!

All in all it was a great trip.  We hurried home so Matt could play in one game in their baseball tournament.  The team lost, but he had a great game getting an out at 3rd and having a couple of great at bats.  And then began the recovery process which I think I'm possibly finally recovered from the drive, hence the post two weeks late!