Food Poisoning: ugh...

We've had a pretty crazy couple of weeks. First off, my brother moved out of my parents house and into his own home. So because he'd been in there for 13 years my parents decided to do some renovations. Last week before Christmas, Jon and I were over at his house for three days straight helping him move all of his stuff into his new house. And it was more difficult than it really should have been, mainly because he didn't rent a U-Haul that had one of those convenient ramps that heavy stuff could be rolled onto, oh no... he and my sweet husband had to lift all of the heavy things, including a heavy couch and very large TV. Finally, Richard was moved out, and my daddy finally went in and we made a plan to remodel the house. And so the remodeling began! We got rid of garbage, cleaned crayon from the wall, removed carpet and padding, got rid of dust and dirt and after that Dad, Jon and I went to Subway to get food, afterward Dad stayed at the house to fill in holes in the wall and Jon and I came home. Later that night we went to RC Willey to look at carpet to put into the house and then all of us came home and ate dinner and then went to bed. At about four in the morning, I woke up with the worst feeling in my belly ever. I rushed to the bathroom where I proceeded to be sick both ways for the next five hours, I tried drinking some coke to settle my tummy where it came up immediately, and then I tried drinking some water and I couldn't even keep that down! I was so sick and so achy, I just figured I had the flu. Jon gave me a blessing, and I was finally able to get some sleep, the next morning mum texted Jon telling him that my daddy had also been up all night and that renovating that day was probably going to be a no-go. Jon said that he also had been feeling some indigestion but nothing anywhere near how horrible Dad and I felt. We attributed the sudden illness to food poisoning from Subway as that was the only place that Jon, Dad and I had all eaten together. Boy, oh boy, was it the worst feeling in the world! My body just hurt and ached and it was the worst thing in the world. I was so dehydrated and everything I drank made me feel worse. Jon tried to keep my hydrated though and so he would have me drink water and ginger-ale. I was so dizzy that even sitting up in bed was difficult, Jon was the most amazing nurse ever, he was so attentive and made sure that I was as comfortable as possible. Then last night we were laying in bed and I was in just so much pain that Jon gave me another blessing and blessed me with comfort and that I would be able to rest, and before he had even finished the blessing my pain was slowly going away. I have never been more grateful to have married a Priesthood Holder than I was last night! This morning I woke up and I felt so much better, I was still tired beyond belief and I was still feeling the aftereffects of the food poisoning. But holy chalupa, worst couple days ever!! One thing we did do last night was use our fetal heart moniter just to check up on the baby since I'd been throwing up so much and hadn't really kept fed or hydrated and it was really funny because we would find the heartbeat and then it would move away, and then we'd find it again and then it would move away, and Jon finally said, "Britt, it's probably getting annoyed that you keep pushing your belly to hear it! It's probably saying, 'Mum, stop pushing on me!'" So that was really funny, but Baby seemed fine. He/She is probably really hungry because I am really hungry but Baby is fine, and I'm started to feel much better. Now it's just back to renovating and tomorrow I have a rehearsal for Video Games Live and then a performance on the 30th, so Jon and I are very excited about that. I get to sing and Jon gets to watch.

Life and Death

Geneva Gail LeLaCheur
1953 ~ 2011
LAYTON, UTAH-Gail age 58 passed peacefully with her family at her side in the early morning December 12th after a 10 month courageous battle with gastric cancer. Gail was born March 21, 1953 in Dallas, TX. to Frieda Holst Wells.
She married her sweetheart, love of her life, and eternal companion Glen on April 2, 1971 in Fresno, CA. and had their marriage solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple April 11, 1975.
Gail worked as the head Coordinator for Nacel-Foreign Exchange Student Program of Utah, which she worked up to her final days placing and caring for the exchange students. A substitute teacher for special needs children and a Watkins Distributer with her husband. Her hobbies are her family, camping, traveling around the world, participating in her numerous LDS church callings, crafting, reading and coaching softball.
She is survived by her husband Glen LeLaCheur and four daughters Emilie (Paris) LeLaCheur-UT; Jolene (Oscar) Avalos-WA; Andrea (Kendrick) Som-VA.; Denice (Justin) Crossley-UT; Four grandchildren which she enjoyed every moment with them, family dog Buster and all extended family and family-friends.
She is preceded in death by her Father-Doyle Tipton; Brother-Doyle (Buster) Tipton and Daughter-Deanna LeLaCheur
Special thanks to Huntsman Cancer Institute and Advocate Hospice caring for Gail during her fight and final stay at home.
Viewing will be on Thursday December 15th at 6-8 p.m.; Funeral Service will be held Friday December 16th 2011 at 11 a.m.; both services will be at the Snowcreek Chapel-845 North 1150 East, Layton, UT.
Interment will follow after the funeral service.

Gail was a very special person in my life. When my family lived in our house in Layton, Gail lived right next door along with her husband and her four daughters. I was really little when I first started going over there, but I would go over all the time. I am pretty sure that I ate more dinners at her house than I did at mine. She was kind of like a second mother to me. Gail was diagnosed with Gastric Cancer about 10 months ago and she fought a hard battle going through chemo and radiation, and through it all she was so positive about everything; unfortunately the cancer eventually took her life early Monday morning. She passed away peacefully with her family all around her. I had the opportunity to sing for her funeral today, which was more difficult than I originally thought it would be. I've sung for more funerals than a person my age should probably sing at, but none of those were for someone that I was this close to. There came a point in time where I looked up and saw Glen and the family and I just had to look down and make sure to look at my words. I chose to sing a song from the musical Little Women, and the song I sang was Days of Plenty and in the musical it's where Marmee sings to Jo, after Beth has died, that things will be better and that she must go on with her life and make sure that no matter what she does, to always remember that Beth will be with her. I thought that that would be especially appropriate for my beloved LeLaCheur family.
Today was a very helpful day, the funeral was beautiful and words were spoken that truly embodied who Gail was. She was always a happy person and she always made sure that no matter what, you knew that you had a friend in her. She was always uplifting and she was always willing to share her talents. The funeral was obviously sad, because losing someone that dear to us is always hard, but other than the sadness there was hope and love and peace. The talks given were lovely about how wonderful Gail was in this life and also about the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful that I have this Gospel and I know that this is not the end. Gail's body may have passed on but her spirit is still very much alive, especially with all of her family. And they will see each other again.

Another thing that has been going on and it has been so hard to not talk about, especially on my blog is that I'm Pregnant! Jon and I were planning on waiting til after we were done with school, but God apparently had other plans for us. We had our first appointment last month and on the ultrasound it was just a little dot! And then at our appointment two days ago we got another ultrasound and saw our little baby! It was so precious and it was definitely something that I needed after Gail's passing on Monday. It is so incredible to see the amount of growth that can happen in just one month. And I find it incredible that my body is creating another human being. We are going to find out the gender in January and the suspense is killing me! I want a girl so bad and Jon wants a boy so we are a house divided. Haha, but secretly, deep down I'm pretty sure he wants a girl. It was really funny on Wednesday, because I'd actually lost weight since my last appointment and the very last thing that my doctor told me was that I needed to gain weight, not lose it. And I was like, "OK!" Best doc advice ever! And one I'll definitely take to heart.

The top picture is from Last month and it was just a little dot and a heartbeat and the bottom one is the two inch little fetus in my belly! It's facing downward and you can see it's head and it's body and it's cute little arms! Next month I will be able to tell you if Baby is a boy or a girl!

Life is one of those crazy things that you always take for granted until something extreme happens to make you think otherwise. And this past little bit has been an eye opener, from Monday finding out about Gail's passing and then Wednesday to see my little baby and then to today at Gail's funeral. Life is a precious gift and we need to treasure it every day that we have it. Life is a miracle and we really need to treat it as such. I am so grateful for my life and for the opportunity that I had to come to this Earth to such an amazing family and in the Gospel. It really has made all the difference in my life and I am so grateful for the chance that I have to be married to my eternal companion and make our own family.

What I've Learned!

Jon's and my first semester together is over. And what a whirlwind that has been! Between illnesses and finals and all the other things going on in life right now it's been a stressful time. Here are some things I've learned:

1. If you have an inclination that a class is going to be crappy, get out!
We have had such a horrible time in our Psychology Class; even the first day of class, our teacher stalled getting into the actual subject. Whenever she would "teach" she would make all of us get into groups and do "group-work", and even that she sucked at! She would give us a topic and guidelines to follow and then halfway through our work she would change everything. She ended up showing up to class and claiming that she had gotten West Nile Virus a month previously and told us that if she went missing that would be the reason, so lo and behold the VERY next class time she was nowhere to be found. She ended up calling a sub in and we had a sub for the next month. Even trying to contact her through email didn't work, she wouldn't respond and wouldn't keep us updated. The sub was almost worse than she was, she obviously hadn't told him what to do either and he deviated from the syllabus and gave us random assignments and then told us that none of them would go on our grade. Then after a month she showed back up again and emailed us the Friday before she got back on Monday and told us that we had to have a research topic ready and that we were going to be having a test. We had no idea how to do any of this because she had never told us how to do anything. So we show up on Monday and have our "topics" ready and then she would ask us how we were going to find research on them and how we were going to do everything and she wanted to know every minute detail when we didn't even know how to pose the research question in the first place. Then she wouldn't give us a study guide, she only told us it would be on certain chapters when she had no idea what we had been taught or what we had not been taught but we were allowed to have one 3x5 card that we could write notes on. And then she said that she was going to base our grade for the past month on the assignments that the sub gave, which half of us threw away because he told us they wouldn't count. Then she changed the syllabus and continued to be a crappy teacher. I think she eventually gave up because she started bringing in guest speakers, and ya know what? That's the only time I've learned anything! Then whenever we would ask a question she would say, "Oh I don't know that, you should google it." I'm sorry, why don't you know, these are questions about what you do for your job and you don't know? If I could get a degree from looking up things on google, I would have it by now and I wouldn't have to pay you to say, "look it up". I'll be done on her, main point: I should have dropped her class when I had the chance. She should never be allowed to teach another class ever again!

2. Class time is so much more fun with your best friend!
Having class with Jon has been the best part of this semester, he has been such an awesome support when I don't want to go to class and he's been a really awesome pusher (in a good way). I have LOVED having him next to me everyday in class. He is a smart, talented guy who has taught me lots of stuff just by sitting next to him. Next semester is going to be sad because of the fact that we won't have the same classes again... :( I have loved going to school with him.

3. Thank the teachers that have been awesome!
I have one teacher in particular who has been amazing!! Her name is Katie and she is my Sociology teacher. She is awe inspiring, she has been the best teacher ever! I have loved every minute of her class and I am so sad to be done with it. I had such a fun, fun time in Sociology figuring out how to save the world and make it better! She really has been a wonderful teacher and I am so grateful that I have been able to learn from her!

4. School just sucks all together!
It's true, I don't think there are many people who say that school is the best time of their life. Well, with the exception of my brother, Timy who would probably be a professional student if he could. I just hate school, it really isn't my strongsuit, but because of my dad I have to keep going at it and get that little bit of paper that says I finished. As stupid as I think that is, I know I have to do it, but it still sucks. And so I take solace in the fact that what I want to get my degree in doesn't take forever like some other people with lots of goals. Because honestly, my goal in life is to be a stay at home mom. I really want to do that, and I know that most feminists would freak out and tell me that I suck at being a woman, but it's true. That's what I want to do with my life, but until then, I have to get that stupid degree.

I think that's about all I have for today there will be more to come because there's lots going on in life...

New Hair!

Today, was a pretty awesome day, it started off pretty boring with the annoying sound of the alarm going off and me turning it off many, many times until Jon's alarm went off. You know what I hate about boys? The fact that they can get up ten minutes before they have to leave for somewhere and they can pee, shower, brush their teeth, and be ready to go... I'm lucky if I can pee and brush my teeth before having to leave! For me, getting ready used to be a really important thing! I would shower and shave my legs (that was always important!), brush my teeth, do my makeup, blow dry my hair and style it. I used to look awesome! But what with school being at such an ungodly hour, I have to take extra showers in the middle of the day to actually shave my legs! Today, was the breaking point for me... Jon and I came home from school and I looked at myself in the mirror and was actually pretty upset with myself that I had let myself go so far downhill! The last time I got my hair cut was July before Nunsense, and so it's been ya know... forever... and this morning was my last straw, I had actually not even blowdried my hair this morning! I just put my bangs (because they had grown obnoxiously long) and just pulled my wet hair into a ponytail. GROSS!!! I finally just got the keys and I drove to the closest hair place and I got my hair cut and coloured. I was so excited to come home and see my sweet husband! I walked in, and I was just beaming because I was really excited to have my husband see my new hair. And so I walked in and I was just beaming and I saw my sweetheart and he really liked it. It looks a lot better than it did and I was super stoked.
Yeah.. today was good. We also had our second to last day of classes, which after the horrible semester we've had with Psychology I am more than grateful to be done with that class, and that horrible teacher... seriously, the teacher sucks and I really hope that she never gets to teach another class ever again, for the sake of other people. I wouldn't wish her on any of my enemies, that's how awful she is!
ok. rant over. Psychology sucks, school is almost over, gorgeous hair and a fun night with the parentals!

Oh yeah...

Christmas is in 20 days... BE EXCITED!!!!!