Hi, I'm Andi, and I am the worst blogger on the planet....

Time flies, I'll tell ya what!!!  It has been almost a year since my last post.  I'm horrible.  I always say that my blog is Facebook, however not all of my friends are on there so I supposed I should be just as good at blogging as I am at facebooking.
Not a whole lot has happened really.  Jamie is in 7th grade. He continues to keep his grades up, all of his teachers absolutely love him. He has made it a point to become friends with each of them.  There is one in particular who is new to his school this year and he makes sure that everyday he says hi to her whether he is with his friends or not.  He is GROWING at a crazy fast rate.  He is now only five inches shorter than his dad who stands 6'1''. He is going to be a giant!!! He is such a good brother, he does everything he can to help his sister when necessary.  They are so close. Best friends really.  I hope and pray everyday that they keep that relationship forever.
Ciara was recently taken off Orencia because it wasn't working.  Her Rheumatologist started her on another IV med called Actemra.  This med has to be administered every two weeks. and has to be run over a four hour period! That makes for a very long day for both of us!  It also makes her very tired so pretty much she sleeps the rest of the day away afterward.  Poor Kid!!  She is such a sweet girl!  In the last six months or so she has gone from "if I brush my hair after my shower, I'm doing good" to "I can't leave the house without doing my hair".  She has such a unique sense of style!  She likes everything from skull and cross bones to flowers, fairies, peace signs and everything in between.  She is still involved in girl scouts and loves it.  Her troop leader is moving  to Texas at the end of this years season so we will have to find another troop close.  We will miss Jollene terribly.  I have become pretty good  friends with her.
Jim is still an assistant store director. He still has a love/hate relationship with it! Ha ha .He and I will be celebrating our 14th year of marriage next week.  I love him more than he knows.  He's my JimmyLou!
I am still a CNA at IMC.  I love my Co-Workers!  I don't think I have ever had as many friends at work as I do now. I am also playing Kitchen Beautician meaning I go to peoples houses and do their hair.  I am still seeking a salon Job. One will come along soon.....I hope!!!!

As we speak so time flees.....

Wow....Been a while huh!!! So much has happened since I last posted. I'm still in school. I will be done with my 2000 hours around September and I will be done with my AAS in December!!! WOOHOO!! PARTY!!!! I took my written state board last month and passed with a 93! I will take the practical state board when I am done with my hours. I also had the opportunity to attend a hair show in Las Vegas last month.(I might add that this was my first trip EVER to vegas) It was awesome. Who would have thought that earning hours for school could involve alcohol!! I rode down with three other girls from school and we had so much fun! We learned so much about eachother. We just talked the whole way there and back. The hotel we stayed at was called Aria, it was an enormous beautiful place.

At the end of next week life as I know it will change FOREVER!! My sweet baby boy will no longer be in Elementary School. I can't believe how much he has grown over the last year. Not only is he a full head taller than me but he is becoming a wonderful, goodlooking young man!! Ciara is still enjoying girl scouts and is excited to go to cooking camp this summer. I think she just might grow up to be my liitle gourmet chef!! She loves to help out in the kitchen every chance she gets.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a great new year. Christmas was great here at the Eddens household. The new year has started off a little rough however. Jims mom got really sick and was red lighted and sirened to the hospital a week ago today. She was having breathing issues and was very disoriented. The next day it was decided that she should be intubated and placed on a ventilator to help her breathe because nothing was bringing her O2 sats up above 80. We started preparing for the worst. We were all pretty certain that she wouldn't be coming home from the hospital. Thankfully we were wrong! On Thursday they took the tube out and boy was she happy! ( Ok who are we kidding we all were very happy) While she is still in the hospital in ICU, every day she continues to heal. With this hospital stay came the sad realization that we probably only have a year left with her. We will just make the most of what we have and cherish every second we have to make the memories that last a lifetime. Above are just a few pictures from christmas. Will post more later, gotta go for now. Thanks for reading!! Love Ya!!

Long Time no blog! My bad.

Wow, I guess it has been a minute since I last 'blogged". Chalk it up to working 40 hours a week and school 20 hours a week, or you can chalk it up to Pure Laziness on my part! Ha ha ha.

As I mentioned in my last post Ciara has started her orencia and is doing rather well on it. She has developed good relationships with the nurses on the rapid treatment unit as well as the IV team. Her rheumatologist did however put her on prednisone for the month of October just to boost her blood work in the right direction which it did. She will be 10 on tuesday (Nov 17). Wow time flies! She is my baby and I will admit she is very spoiled. But she is a very good, sweet and loving girl. I am so lucky!

Jamie decided that he wanted to play football. We signed him up and Jim at that time decided he wanted to help coach his team. They both loved it! I was able to make it to every single game. They didn't win a single game but those little boys are so cute and so much fun to watch! Jamie is growing up into such a good young man! He turned 12 in september. How am I old enough to have a 12 year old!?!? I have to look up to talk to my baby boy! I just hope and pray that both of my kids continue to be the great individuals they currently are. (even through the temultuous teenage years that are fast approaching).

Jim is still "Living the Dream" as an assistant store director. He was offered a job as a store director in Gillette Wyoming. He turned it down. There is entirely too much keeping us here to be able to leave. He works very hard and is very passionate about his job. I couldn't have asked for a better hubby! He is my VERY best friend. I would truly be lost without him.

As for me, I am still going to school and working full time. I just accepted a position working full time at Intermountain Medical Center's maternity unit. I love it!! I get to play with babies! Hard Job! Let me tell ya!! I am at about 1000 hours at school. There is 2000 hours required to graduate! I'm halfway there!!

Well that's all I have for now. See "random" pics.

Ok so I am really the worst at keeping up on this! I am working forty hours a week and going to school twenty two hours a week. Any spare time I might have is spent with my family. School is going well. Everyday I feel a little bit more confident than the day before. It really is a great feeling knowing that I am making progresson something and having fun doing it. Ciara is going to be starting Orencia infusions within the next month or so. That entails spending a few hours in the rapid Treatment Unit at Primary childrens Hospital. She is real anxious about the process because it entails having an IV inserted. This is also not fun for us! In the long run though I know it will help her with her JRA.
Yesterday (2/20) myself and my two oldest sisters attended a funeral for our Great-Great Aunt, my maternal Grand Mothers Aunt. What an amazing lady she was. She published many books ranging from family history on my maternal grandmothers side of the family, her husbands family history and the histories of Tooele County and Stockton Utah. I remember as a small child going to her house for a visit with Grandma and Gramps. she had an amazing memory, she would remember everyones full name and which line of the family they were from and wouldn't hesitate to tell them their bloodlines. She truly was a great historian.
Well, I guess that is all for now.......

OK so I am not very good at updating my blog but I am going to try. The holidays went well. Santa brought us a Wii for Christmas. ( we actually won it at my hunny's Christmas party) We have alot of fun with it. My kids continue to grow like weeds. Jamie is only about an inch shorter than I am. Ciara's rheumatologist is going to start her on Orencia, it is a T-Cell inhibitor. She has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and her inflammation levels on her blood work have been consistently out of norm for a few months now. What a process that is going to be, first off we have to take her in to have a TB skin test done and to do more blood work to make sure she is immune to Hepatitis B. Meanwhile her doc is getting the approval for the drug from the insurance company. Once it starts she will have to go into the Rapid Treatment Unit at Primary Childrens Medical Center Every two weeks for two weeks then every month. I am looking forward to this in hopes that it works well for her. I'm not looking forward to the anxiety of my poor baby girl when it comes to needles of any kind. If she can't poke herself with it she has major issues. Can't say that I blame her....He has been through alot in her short little life.

Ok I'm done with talking about that because it stresses me out. The pictures I will post are from Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hope everyone stays safe and happy in 2009!

Ok ok ok! I swore I wouldn't create a blog but here I am writing one. Just a quick scoop on the "fab four", Andi just finished her first semester in the Cosmetology program at SLCC, she got a 4.0! Jim is working a an assistant store director for Smith's grocery stores. He may complain about it all the time but we all know that he truly enjoys what he does. Jamie, he's 11, is in 5th grade and is doing great, he's even getting good grades! Way to go boy, keep up the great work! Ciara is our little sweetheart, she's 9, she's in 3rd grade and loves every minute of it! Jim had a health scare this past week, he came home from work and informed me that the right side of his face had been numb since he woke up for work that morning. We took him to the ER (after I had a freak out moment). They diagnosed him with Bells Palsy which is a temporary paralysis of the face that lasts anywhere from tow to four weeks, prescribed him Prednisone, Acyclovir(anti viral), Eye ointment and sent us on our way. Thank goodness it wasn't anything more serious than that. His face is a little droopy and he has a crooked smile but other than that he is ok! THANK GOD!!!! I will post pics of him and other stuff.