34 Things

I turned 34 a couple of days ago and decided I would make a list of 34 things that have happened in my life since my last birthday.

1. Went back to school at USU.

2. Fell asleep while studying for classes.

3. Got new neighbors.

4. Called to be a Cub Scout Bear Den leader with Kaleb and went to our first Cub Scout Day Camp with Maxwell.

5. Joined a new card exchange group.

6. Passed my ASL 4 class, after a break of almost 9 years since my ASL 3 class.

7. Burned fabrics on campus and enjoyed a textile science class.

8. Watched a family loose their little boy in a car accident and missed him in our primary class.

9. Best friend and her family moved to Wyoming. :(

10. Four day camping trip with in-laws.

11. Maxwell had his tonsils out.

12. Jensen had feet surgery.

13. Made a fish cupcake birthday cake and a Lego guy birthday cake.

14. Visited best friend and her family in Wyoming. :)

15. Met some new friends.

16. Tried to teach Jensen to ride a bike.

17. Finally took a pottery class and made some cool stuff.

18. Learned that a stress management class can cause a lot of stress!

19. Maxwell started learning the cello and played awesome at the Christmas concert.

20. Made a bat costume and a Phantom of the Opera costume.

21. Went on a tour of Aggie Ice Cream with Jensen and his class.

22. Started paperwork for adoption.

23. Went to Hardware Ranch to see the elk.

24. Round two for feet surgery for Jensen.

25. Grew a garden and then canned salsa, tomato soup, and chicken.

26. Froze the rest of the onions from our garden. We cried a lot that day!

27. Went to Antelope Island and played in the Great Salt Lake with my sister and her family.

28. Saw a man walking a camel in my in-laws backyard. The boys touched the camel.

29. Created the most yummy Garlic Shrimp Pasta. A new family favorite!

30. Started the fibromyalgia study.

31. Went home to New Mexico for a week for Christmas.

32. Went to my grandma's 80th birthday party.

33. Graduated from USU with my BA in Liberal Arts and a minor in Art.

34. Loved spending another year with my wonderful husband and two awesome boys!

Fibromaylgia Study - Weeks 6 and 7

Wow, I didn't realize that I totally missed a post last week. So anyways, last week went pretty good. Did my exercises, didn't start anything new. Felt ok. Sunday started to feel like my cold might be coming back, but then the dr said it was probably allergies acting up with the inversion. So I started back on my allergy nasal spray and I do seem to have less of a scratchy throat today and less congestion. Let's hope that it will clear up soon!

Week 7 - Started two new exercises. First one is what they call the praying mantis. You stand up againist the wall with your heels, bum, back, and head touching the wall. Then you raise your arms to a 90 degree angle and then touch your elbows and hands together and hold it for 45 seconds and do it three times. By the middle of the first 45 seconds my muscles are shaking like crazy! But I keep going, it is an exercise to strengthen your muscles. The second new exercise is the thorasic roll. They gave me a 7 or 8 round and around 24 inch long styrofoam roll. You lay on the floor with it just under the end of your ribs and slowly walk it up to the top of your shoulders and then back down. You are supposed to start at 8 and work up to 20. Eight was plenty for me yesterday! It relaxes the muscles in your back, but it really works your abs as well.
Today, after doing the wall traction and the wobble chair at the dr office, he checked my range of motion in my neck. He said that I have about 100% going left and right, but not full motion tipping my head back. So he said he was going to do the y-traction on me. He had me lay down with my upper body slightly elevated. Then put a strap around the back of my head and over my ears. The strap continues out to a handle that the dr pulls on, which basically feels like he is trying to pull your head off! The first pull I closed my eyes and the room started to spin and I felt like I was going to pass out! So I waved my fingers and he stopped and asked what happened. He adjusted the strap and then said to keep my eyes open. The next pull went a lot better. Each of the first two pulls is supposed to be for 15 seconds, then the last pull is for 45 seconds and then he gives a tug and releases your back or neck. I felt it in my neck, but he says as we continue I will begin to feel it further down my back. And now, my neck hurts and I am going to go lay down and ice it!

Our Cellist -- Maxwell

Maxwell has had the awesome opportunity to be a part of his elementary school orchestra. He decided he wanted to play the cello. So we went to the meeting and they measured him to see what size he would need. The cello is as big as he is and it is only a half-size cello. He goes early to school twice a week for practices. We try to get him to practice every day at home, also. We think he is doing awesome!!

Loft Beds

For Christmas this year, Kaleb and I decided to give the boys loft beds. They already had bunk beds, so we just needed to make the desk part. I found a picture of a loftbed that we liked for the idea. We planned and then Kaleb and his dad drew it out and figured out how many of what pieces of wood we needed. Then Kaleb and his dad, and a little help from the boys, got the pieces all cut and part of the desk put together. Then we brought all of the pieces home and moved most of the stuff out of the boys room, so Kaleb could sand and finish all of the pieces. The boys had to sleep in the living room for a few weeks and we had saw dust everywhere, even though we tried to cover and contain it! We almost have the house back together now, just a few more things. Merry Christmas boys!!

Maxwell, Jensen, and Kaleb putting together Maxwell's desk.

Jensen and Kaleb putting together Jensen's desk.

Maxwell's completed loft bed! We decided to just buy some drawers for now. Grandma and Grandpa Otteson got the boys desk lamps for Christmas, perfect for their new loft beds.

Jensen, also at Maxwell's completed loft bed, but we are pretending it is his, cause it will be hard to take a good picture after we get his bed up.

Completed! The beds are close enough together in this small apartment room, that we decided to only have one ladder that they both use. Right now they are really close to the ceiling too, but this apartment has lower than normal ceilings, so we are hoping the next place we live is a little taller. There is a walkway in between the beds and then they have tons of room under the beds at their desks. The ladder even moves up straight out of the way, for easy cleaning and more room to play.

They turned out just as great, in fact, better than I invisioned. Kaleb says he's jealous and wishes he had a bed like this! Now they should be set with beds till they get married!!

Fibromyalgia Study - Weeks 4 and 5

So I think I'm a little off in my week counting...I think I didn't count the week I was in New Mexico. Kaleb looked at the calendar last night and said I had been doing my exercises for 5 weeks now, so there you go.

Last week and this week have been a little rough on me. To start off we have had horrible air in Cache Valley, with the inversion and we've had lots of red air days. Then with my "time of the month" last week and having a cold this week has made this hard. I have really tried to keep doing the exercises twice a day, but somedays I have just hurt too bad. The dr did tell me that this is not a no pain, no gain thing. If it is hurting too bad to stop. So I've done what I could.

I am up to 60 pulls on my traction unit. I've been doing good on my neck molding block, so the dr said to try turning it over where there is no cut-out for my neck. Wow, that hurt! I only made it 3 minutes and then turned it back over to the cou-out side for the rest of the 20 minutes. Kaleb asked me last night if I could tell a difference and I said it sure is hard to tell with all that has gone on in the last couple of weeks.

11 Wonderful Years

I can hardly believe that Kaleb and I have been married for 11 years! The time has flown by and we really don't feel like it's been that long until we think about how old are kids are getting! We had a great friend take the boys for a sleep over, so we had a night to ourselves. We went to dinner at Chili's and then saw the movie "The Blind Side". We loved the movie, but it reminded us that we are supposed to be working on adopting. The Lord has a way of hinting things at you! This last year has brought us some great things and we are hoping for a bunch this coming year as well. Last year I graduated from college and this year Kaleb will graduate! Jensen will be getting baptized this year. Maxwell started playing the cello and is doing great! I started my fibromyalgia study and we are hoping that it will make a great change in my ability to live my life. Thank you Kaleb for being such a wonderful husband! Love, Alicia

Firbromyalgia Study - Week 3

This is my third week in the fibromyalgia study. This week I have to go in three times. I already went once this morning and came home and rode my bike for 20 minutes and went 3.4 miles. I felt pretty good, but tired. I iced my neck and then took a nap. I think I have been feeling a little better, but the weather is so cold right now that it makes it hard to tell. I am up to 40 pulls on the traction unit and have to work up to 60. Somedays I'm not sure I can even do 10, but I keep going. I'm still doing good on the molding block and only had one night that I couldn't do the full 20 minutes so far. I'm getting faster on my wobble chair.