You've had a birthday, shout WOORAY!!

That's right, it's another birthday!! It's for MAXWELL!!! My little buddy turns 3 today! I can't believe he turns 3. I hope he has a good birthday!


Maxwell went from THIS....


to THIS....

Happy Birthday Maxwell! I love you! You always make me smile. You love to be around Grandma and Grandpa. You remind me soo much of your daddy. I love how you just laugh and laugh whenever you see me because you know what's going to happen! I love kissing you so hard that you can't control yourself! :) We love having you be part of the family! I miss you so much!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a good christmas! I was not able to go home to Orangeville for Christmas. I had to work yesterday (FedEx delivers on Christmas so I was still working) so I stayed up in Salt Lake and due to the weather, I didn't want to risk anything. FedEx was soooo slow yesterday that we did nothing at work until they delivered at 1 yesterday so we started working at about 1:30. After work, I went over to Tammy's and I watched THE NIGHT THEY SAVED CHRISTMAS with the kids. We got the webcam all set up and we talked with mom and dad and the Browns. It was fun. Koy had fun talking to "NaNa" and Kayden just liked to see himself in the camera :)

Santa did make it to my house :) I got a nice Columbia coat. I needed a new winter coat since we have been getting non-stop snow here. Thanks for the gifts everyone. I got a $50 gift card toward southwest airlines from the Browns and a necklace, a digital picture frame from the Gales, and a gift card for iTunes from the Labrums. Lexi was also so thoughtful and bought me a gift from a store they had at her school.

I woke up and went to Tammy's and spent the morning with them. It is always so much fun watching little kids get so excited over the gifts Santa bring. Koy kept bringing me his gifts to open for him because he just couldn't do it. I hope everyone liked their gifts from Aunt Nicky :) I tried to do my best but it is really hard to get things when the family is so spread apart.

I am being honest, this Christmas was really hard for me. Since I was alone, it was hard. Last weekend, I did have a breakdown and I cried to dad. I really wanted to go home or at least be with mom and dad. But with this weather, I completely understand. We didn't wake up to any new snow but down in Emery they did. It has been blowing really hard all day and the storm is coming in. My new coat is working great!:) I really appreciate the Gales letting me spend christmas morning with them. I even took my nap there and I loved having Koy come and cuddle with me and he ended up falling asleep with me (I love having my little snuggle-muffin by me sleeping). I have been really emotional this christmas so all the gifts helped out knowing that people care about me. I didn't like working on Christmas Eve.

I am glad I was able to talk to all the kids today! Knowing they are happy makes me so happy! I love them all so much! I miss all of you so much!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Do you know what to today is...........

"It's the day before the night before christmas! and I'm busy busy busy being good!" :)

I woke up this morning and this is the first thing that came to my mind... :) Tomorrow I'll think "Who's that Up on the ROOF?"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

"I'm going to tell you one more time. Sing anything you want. White Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. But no more Jingle Bells!"

Last year, I got this movie for Christmas from Barrett and Chantel. They were WONDERFUL and got it copied to DVD for me. I have watched it a few times this season already! This movie is sooo old, I don't know if very many people know about it. But we have watched it ever since I could remember. I was looking it up on the internet today, and I found out that David is one of the dr's on ER now (Dr Archie Morris).. WOW! The things you learn! :)

The snow is falling once again here in SLC! It's going to be a white Christmas!

Oh the weather outside is FRIGHTFUL!!!!

It is sooo cold outside! Yesterday a big storm made it into the SLC valley. I sat there at my desk at work and watched it roll in. The snow came down and it didn't seem to let up ALL day! We would watch out the window at the cars going down the road and they would just slide. One car actually slid into a parked car because it was turning into ice. I was so worried about driving home. I knew I had good tires but some people just don't know to drive in the snow. The poor maintenance guys were blowing the snow off the sidewalks all day and I kept thinking about my dad and how he does it everytime it snows.

It has been snowing on and off today but not much. But it has been really cold. I was able to finish all my christmas shopping today. I didn't have much left. AND, I got it all wrapped and it is under my tree now waiting for christmas. I hope that Tyler, Morgan and Max got their christmas gifts. I thought I sent them off in plenty of time.

I hope everyone has been able to stay nice and warm! I have been wanting to take pictures of all the snow, but it has been way to cold! :) I can't stand the cold!

Merry Christmas! I will talk to you guys this week!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

It is officially looking like Christmas outside! This morning I woke up to wind blowing like crazy. I climbed back in my bed for a little more sleep. Woke up at 9 and it was SNOWING!! The weather forecasters said there was a storm coming and they were right. It has been snowing pretty much all day.

We had our Christmas Party at Myriad yesterday. HR makes Breakfast (YUM!) Everyone looks forward to it. It starts at 8 and goes until about 11. Everyone lines up for the bacon! :) They make sure we are nice and full! They feed us with pancakes, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, pastries, doughnuts, fruit, juice.. It is so nice! I love working for Myriad, they really treat their employees good!

Today was the Labrum Christmas party! It was out at Aunt Luanns. We missed a lot of people because of the weather but it was good. We still had a good turnout. The food was good, as usual. Me, Tammy and Uncle Mike made sure to test out Jen's chocolate first! :) After lunch, the special "visitor" came. All the little kids got their chance to sit on his lap and get their bag of treats. Koy was cute when he saw Santa! He sat his lap and he said "ho ho ho merry christmas!" Kayden on the other hand, he wanted his bag of treats but did NOT want to go NEAR Santa! Aunt Luann helped to get him near Santa so we could get a picture. We got him to sit on the stairs so we have a picture with a wall between Kayden and Santa :) that was as good as we could get. In the bag of treats, they had better treats then we had growing up! We had peanuts and and orange! LOL.. they had good candy! Only the Labrum family would give out fruits snacks but what kind are they... JOHN DEERE!!! We left the party early so dad could head home. Me and Tammy headed to Walmart to go shopping. I got my Christmas shopping done except for mom and dad... So, yay for me! :) When we were at Walmart getting christmas gift, Kayden said he needed to get a christmas gift for JJ (Jeremy and Rachel's little boy) he then said "I LOOOVE JJ"

While at the family party, I was telling Tammy that we didnt get all the entertainment growing up like the kids now have at the party (they had the Christmas Classics DVD going on the Big Screen). We had the parties at Uncle Lee's and our entertainment was the rabbits. And we all crammed upstairs for the family "talents". But I think that because of those memories, it makes the Christmas memories memorable. The Labrum parties are always so much fun, and you all have to admit, we always have fun. No matter how often we get together, we can always find something to talk about. It was different not having the whole family there..

The snow started falling when I pulled into my driveway. The storm is supposed to last the next few days. Hopefully everyone stays nice and warm. I took pictures at the family party, I will post them hopefully... soon! :)

Christmas Traditions

Everybody has traditions with every holiday. I want to know what Christmas Traditions people have. As you get older, those traditions change and when you get married, traditions merge and you make your own traditions with your new family.

We always put our christmas tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. The tree was lit with colorful lights and had ornaments from my moms students from over the years. We have had 1 ornament (i think she still has it) from Marci Stilson, she was in 6th grade and she made it for my mom for Christmas. My mom has kept every ornament from her students and now she puts them on her tree in her classroom (i think).

As we got older, our tree changed. It then became a peach, blue and silver tree with white lights and we ALWAYS had my grandma Nells icicles on it. The icicles topped the tree off and made the tree gorgeous!

The Labrum side has a Christmas party in Mid-December. I remember it always being at Uncle Lee's and having Sloppy Joes. Each family would have a "talent" to do. We would do that upstairs in the living room. Then we would go downstairs and do the gift exchange. Then the big visit from Santa would come and EVERYONE has to sit on his lap. We even had Grandma and Uncle Rulon sitting on his lap! :) Nobody got away without sitting on his lap. We sang and laughed. I loved getting the gift from Grandma Labrum, and I will always remember it. There were too many grandkids/great grandkids for her so she made the gifts for us. She would make airplanes out of candy. With a package of lifesavers, sticks of gum.. That is something that I know Grandma did for her grandkids because she loved them so much.One year, Santa was so weird.. He has us sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. That is still a joke in the Labrum family. Now we all go to Aunt Luann's house and the little kids sit on the lab (the family is just getting too big) and we have $5 gift exchange.

We would spend Christmas Eve with the Ware side because they were right down the road. I remember 1 Christmas Eve traveling from Logan to Orangeville and it was a long day. Grandpa Rue would read to us The Night before Christmas and the Gift of the Magi. We would open the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa that night. Which were always pajamas. All the girls got matching pjs and the boys got matching pjs. We had to have the group picture in front of the big mirror.

When we got home that night, Mom and Dad would try to wind us down and give us their gift and send us to bed. It was always so hard to sleep that night. They even started to put sheets up at the doorways of the front room so we couldn't go peek at what we got for christmas. We would get up at 4 am Christmas morning and wake everyone up to open gifts! :) Dad had to go in and "check" to make sure Santa came to the house. We would open the gifts and by 6 christmas was over! :) Later that day, we would make the rounds to the Watsons, Leeflangs and Grandma and Grandpa Ware and they would come up to our house. We all enjoyed the food at every house.

Growing up, I never thought that Christmas was hard or I had less then anyone else. My Christmas' were always the best ever! We were never without. Thank you mom and dad! I love you so much!

Christmas Tag

I was tagged by my sister Nancy.. It totally surprised me that she did this because growing up she was the one that was totally NOT into Christmas! But once she had Tyler, that has totally changed! :) Yes Nancy, you know you were a complete Scrouge! :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I do both. But I LOVE wrapping gifts!

2. Real tree or Artificial? I have the artificial with a pine candle. But growing up we had both.

3. When do you put up the tree? I have all intentions to put it up this next upcoming weekend! I already have the pine candle going!

4. When do you take the tree down?The weekend around New Years!

5. Do you like eggnog? It's alright

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I got a lot of good gifts but I don't remember a favorite.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My parents! When you ask them what they could use, they always say "nothing"

8. Easiest person to buy for? nieces and nephews, lol or when the family drew names, I always had Josh! He was easy.. give him a package of socks and he was happy! :)

9. Do you have a nativity scene? My parents let me have their old one that we had growing up, Tammy borrowed it when she was living in Saratoga Springs and I'm not sure where it is now.. So if you know where it is.. let me know!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't take pictures of myself and send them out to friends and family.. but I have bought cards and sent them out to friends and I do email a christmas letter to friends

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Uncle Kenny rocked at getting us dumb stuff. I don't know of a "stupid" or worst gift ever. DITTO!!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Night They Saved Christmas...

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December! LOL

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My moms cheese ball, Aunt Ruanne's Oreo Cookies, Clam Dip

16. Lights on the tree? White.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Bishop Sharp singing the inn keeper (always!) Where are you christmas, Christmas Shoes

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? we did both when I was younger. We would spend Christmas Eve with the Wares but I do remember 1 christmas driving home from Logan and getting to Grandpa's late.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel..

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? We always did Grandma and Grandpa's present on Christmas Eve (they were always pj's) and then we came home and we did mom and dads.. remember when we thought our reading pillows were lions. lol

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? people get so MEAN!!

23. Favorite Ornament theme or color? My tree is purple and silver (thank you Tammy!) growing up my parents had peach and blue.. it was SOOO pretty AND they had the icicles that topped off the tree.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? My family!

26.My most wanted gift? My family!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

I tag:
Bridi
Jaley
Jenn Sitterud
Katie Barton
Natty McKnight
Mandy Gibbons
Rachel Tomsick
Kim Tomsick

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!! I went to Tammy's for Thanksgiving Dinner then headed down to Orangeville after. It was just a nice dinner with the Gales and mom and dad. Lexi made the little place settings, it was all really nice!

We took the 3 kids down to mom and dads because Tammy and Josh had to work. Friday we took the kids down to moms classroom for a bit to watercolor because the "appointments" started for December. Saturday we had to find another way to get them out of the house so we had to tell them we should go to the playground! Good thing the appointments weren't long. The kids did really good away from mom and dad for a few days but come Sunday you could tell they were ready for mom and dad!

I have officially shown my clutziness--AGAIN! I fell at mom and dads and sprained my ankle. That crack in the sidewalk got me and I fell. I thought for sure I had broken my ankle cuz I heard a snap when I fell but I ended up getting an xray on it today and it was just sprained.

Well, back to work.. We didn't have much work to do today.. We are actually done 4 hours early today.. So now I get to go home! I will work on getting everyones christmas out (and bought) :)

Month of Thanks

This month has been hard for me to write since my computer is WAY infected with a virus so it is back in EC getting fixed. So thank goodness for my generous roommates who will let me use their laptops whenever! I know it is hasn't been often enough.

On Nov 14, Kayden has his 2 yr anniversary of his kidney transplant. So many emotions go through me on that day. I sit there and reflect back on the day that I got the call from Tammy that they got the call that there was a kidney for him, I cannot explain the feeling that goes through you at that time. I met Tammy and Josh at the hospital that next morning and was there ALL DAY (literally). I am so thankful to have been able to be there. It is something that you cannot imagine going through unless you go through it. You sit there and have the tears flow knowing that your loved one is getting a new chance of life but knowing that at that exact time someone elses family is going through a totally different feeling. Someone lost their life and that person saved a life through their selfless acts.

Today was supposed to be the Celine Dion concert. The concert was postponed until Feb 22,2009. I'm so bummed! I bought these tickets a year ago, but I already waited 12 months, what's another 3 right?!?!

As this is November, the month of Thanksgiving... I want to say how grateful I am for my family and friends. I have the best family ever! My parents have always been there for me no matter what. I know many people tell me that I am spoiled and that's fine, I will admit it! :) My brother and sisters are always so supportive of me and everything I do! I could not ask for a better family. I am also so thankful for my sister in law and brother in laws.. You guys make my brother and sisters so happy! And last but not least... those kids! :) My nieces and nephews... They make my life complete! I have learned so much from them and I am grateful for every minute of that.

Where are you going to be tomorrow at 4 pm? I will be watching the BYU vs Utah game!! YES!! I love this time of year! Nothing beats the HOLY WAR!! Today at work it was all Blue vs Red. Since I work up in Research Park by the U, it was pretty packed and there was a lot of Blue and Red.

AND, last but not least... I HAVE to say, I paid $1.85/gal for gas today! It was so nice to be able to fill my car up for $24 instead of $45. When I talked to Dad today, it was still $2.17 down at home.. Me and mom said we wanted to fill up a big tank right now and keep it at that price. I filled my car up this morning and when I drove past the same gas station this afternoon the price was at $1.83/gal. It is so nice to see the gas prices going DOWN instead of going UP. WAHOO!!!!

3 years ago......

3 years ago today, I got one of the greatest surprises! I tried to go up to LDS and PCMC as often as I could to see Baby Ty. It was so hard for me to go and not be able to hold him so I would just sit there with my hand in his little incubator and hold his hand and I would talk to him. For a while, we couldn't rub him because it COULD rub his precious skin off.

Well, on Nov 10, 2005 I met Nancy up at PCMC and just as I usually did, I scrubbed in at the sink and went to his NICU room. Nancy looked at me and asked me "Nicky, do you wanna hold him?" I was in shock.. I held him and of course, being the Ware I am, I cried! Then I asked Nancy if she could get me a pillow to put under him so I could feel like I was holding something! This was something that I will never forget! She TOTALLY surprised me that day. I longed to hold this little miracle that I had been coming to see and now I had that moment. I sat there and I just held him and I just talked to him. And even to this day, whenever I talk to Nancy I will not pass up a moment that I will not talk to TyTy. Sometimes he does not go for the phone, but I have to tell him how much I love him! I love hearing Nancy tell him to tell Nicky Pooh Pooh "I love you" and he just laughs..

Thank you Nancy for this memory! It is National Preemie Month so you can read all about his story on Nancy's Blog. Tyler is a hero in my eyes!

I love you Tyler!

WE HAVE A BABY!!!

Felicia had her baby tonight!! A few days past her due date but that's alright.. The lil man wasn't ready to come out I guess! :)

Kash Mclaren Nielsen was born Nov 3, 2008. He is 7 lbs 8 oz. (I don't know the exact time) His mommy is so happy he is FINALLY here!!! Daddy (Chad) has kept me updated all day with how Felicia has been feeling. I am so excited to go see them tomorrow! I told Felicia that I will spoil this baby like he is part of my family! And she said that is fine, ever since she found out she was pregnant she has said that I will be Aunt Nicky to the baby. I even tried to convince Chad to name the baby after me, but he didn't go for it.

Congrats Felicia and Chad! Can't wait to meet lil man! I know you guys will be great parents!

The Darling Daughter

I got a new blinkie on the side! Just thought I would help out my sister in law with her business. It is new and improved!!! So all you moms that read my blog that have little girls... GO TO HER BUSINESS BLOG!!!The Darling Daughter

The make ADORABLE headbands and necklaces/bracelets for little girls. So go check it out!!! Pass the message on to your friends and family.. www.thedarlingdaughter.com

They just changed the name from Kidcessories to The Darling Daughter. Same stuff just improved. My sister in law started the business while living in Kirksville, MO. She had met another med students wife and they decided to start the business. Now going on for about 4 years, they are loving it! :)

They do custom made orders or some that you just order. They have regular everyday headbands to special days (blessings, baptisms).. They have holiday headbands.. You name it, they can get it!

At least check it out and pass the website onto your friends and family!!!! :)

And their gift to you.. Directly from my SIL: "To show our gratitude, we have a special gift for you! When you place an order by November 15th, you will receive 10% off your entire purchase by entering the promotion code: 2ANNIV10 during checkout!"

Eight Things Tag

I got this Tag from Tammy

Eight things I'm passionate about:
1. Organ Donation!!!!
2. Prematurity
3. The Gospel
4. My family
5. My family
6. my nieces and nephews
7. My family

Eight words or phrases I use all the time:
1. I can't read what this dr put!!!
2. ANOTHER meeting!
3. this sucks
4. how does this house get so dirty?
5. who is eating all my food
6. what are you doing tonight?
7. is it 6 yet?
8. i don't want to come to work

Eight things I want to do before I die.
1. Get married
2. Have kids
3. Own a home
4. go on a nice vacation
5. see my family be happy
6. a cruise
7.
8.

Eight things I currently want or need:
1. a vacation
2. really really good sleep
3. a million dollars
4. no more sickness
5. a new cell phone (my is not working right anymore)
6. a computer that works
7. be out of debt
8.

Eight places I want to visit:
1. Hawaii
2. DisneyWorld
3. Disney Land
4. Hawaii
5. New York City
6. Missouri (to see my brother)
7. Arizona (to see my sister!)
8. Europe

Eight favorite restaurants:
1. Olive Garden
2. Maccaroni Grill
3. Chili's
4. Red Lobster
5. Sizzler
6. Cafe Rio
7. Mega Wraps
8.

Eight TV shows I watch:
1. 90210 The new version
2. 90210 The old version
3. Gray's Anatomy
4. ER
5. FRIENDS
6. Dr G medical Examiner
7. CSI
8. Intervention

Eight People I tag:
1. Tasha
2. Holly
3. Katie
4. Laura
5. Jenn Sitterud
6. Leslie
7. Adri
8. Bridi

They say it's your birthday!!!

ok, well.. its really MY birthday! Happy birthday to me!!! I have the best family ever!! You can read the different posts they put on their pages. Mom, Chantel, and Nancy.. Yes, Tammy had to work this morning so nothing on hers.. Everyone always says that they can't tell the Labrum girls apart, but I didn't know that even my own sister (Nancy) couldn't, so the picture that I saw when I pulled it up was a picture of Tammy! :) Thanks so much for the posts everyone, I really needed it! My birthday is known for being cursed or whatever, so if you can surpass by birthday you can live another year! Yesterday we were with the Labrum family for my cousin Kandis' bridal shower (which she got married the beginning of Oct and we are NOW getting to it). My parents then took me shopping and got me a new outfit from Old Navy. Thanks again mom and dad! You are the greatest! And, I can't forget my dad got my car inspected! :) I was supposed to go hang out with some friends but they all ditched out on me, so of course like it is every year (it's becoming a usual tradation) I am by myself. So I am just going to STOP planning anything..

Once again, I just wanted to tell my family thanks and how great you guys are. I love you all so much! AND, I wanted to tell Aunt Linda and Donna that I got the cards and the chocolate in the mail (the chocolate was GREAT!) :)

ALSO, tell my friend Alissa Jacobson happy birthday. Hers was Friday. We have always had wars who can call each other first to say happy birthday. I left a voicemail on her phone and she called back and tried to beat me at saying happy birthday but it didn't work! :) She has been my best friend since we were little, we lived together while living at snow.

YAY for MOM!

I am so proud of my mom! She is so good at her handwork. She is ALWAYS doing crocheting. I remember growing up and always helping roll the yarn into balls for her. Traveling, she takes her crocheting with her just to keep her hands busy. She does an AMAZING job at it. She makes afghans and more afghans :) Everyone in the family who has been married (all the cousins) knows that their wedding gift from Aunt Lori and Uncle Garth is an afghan that Aunt Lori crochets for them. So if you want your afghan, you need to personally call Aunt Lori and tell her you are getting married as soon as you get engaged so she has enough time to prepare to make it. With her own kids... She made White blankets for them to be taken to church in when they got blessed. With Morgan and Lexi, their blessing dress was made for them by my mom. She works so hard to make them. She actually entered Morgans in the Emery County Fair and got a BLUE RIBBON for it! Max actually got to wear the booties and hat that Grandma Nell made (MY grandma) for her first boy which happened to be Barrett because Grandma Nell had all girls. Barrett was the first boy in the family. So Barrett got to keep them. THEN, When Max came along, Max wore them for his blessing. On his blessing day, we all just cried when my mom put them on her grandson knowing that they were once put on Barrett by his grandma. The hat was kinda tight because Max's head was big! :) Now Chantel and Barrett have made a little box that the hat and booties are in. They have been saved for over 50 years.

Well, The reason I post this is because my mom is accoomplishing some of her lifelong dreams. Growing up, I remember her saying over and over how she would really LOVE to just sit and play the organ at the temple. One time she went over for a session and they needed an organist. She got to play the organ. Another thing I remember her saying over and over growing up she is getting that dream to come true now. You can read about it on her blog HERE. Please check it out! I am SOO proud of my mom. She has a talent that others don't have. And to get this honor to do this is just amazing!!

Mom, I am so proud of you!! Grandma Nell is looking down on you and I know she is so proud of you. You kept that gift of your handcraft. You have passed that on to Tammy. I am just at awe of you guys. I couldn't pick it up, I am so proud of you. Just thinking about it makes me cry. Your gift of needlework will be able to be seen by so many people now and it is really touching! I know this is something you have always wanted is for your needlework to be in the temple and now it is going to have that chance. Mom, Grandma Nell is so proud of you. This is why people always come to you asking for your help, you are really good at it. I am so honored to be your daughter and I love you so much! Sorry I never did pick up on the needlework.. :) I tried, but I can't do much after doing a chain :) Just know that you have a special gift. And your gift is going to be seen by others now. BUT, don't forget, you have 1 daugher who's not married.. I still need blankets when I get married :)

I love you mom.. I am so proud of you! Just know that grandma is proud. Grandma and Grandpa Labrum are proud too. Your family, we all love you and support you. If I was there with you, I would give you a big hug and I KNOW we would start crying (we will blame it on the Ware side) but that's what families are for.. I love you so much!

ER Final Season

This final season of ER is making me look like a big bawl baby! The first episode Dr Pratt died. I cried like a big babby! I know it is the final season so they have to get rid of everyone, but killing him off on the first episode.. NOT COOL!!!

THEN, the episode tonight... Abby leaves. Last season her and Dr Kovac were talking about getting a new beginning. But it actually happened. And to see Abby dance with Frank before she left. Oh, that was tender! Once again, I cried, like a baby! Abby is one that has been on the show for a long time!

I love ER! I am so sad to see it end! So this is the last season and so far, Dr Abby Lockhart and Dr Gregg Pratt are gone.. Who else is going to be leaving? :(



I know this is a random post... I just wanted to post something fun! :)

Happy Birthday.. Aunt Linda

YES, it's another birthday! We all love Aunt Linda! It is my moms sister! She is always so thoughtful. I can't remember a birthday going by that I have not a birthday card and a phone call from her. She now sends us our own little chocolate bar with a homemade wrapper for our birthday. Every christmas we couldn't wait to get our phone call from Aunt Linda to tell her what we got from Santa. I remember one year Aunt Linda made us each a teddy bear for Christmas and each one was different. Growing up we all couldn't wait to see Aunt Linda visiting Grandpa Rue. She is SOO thoughtful of others! I hope you have a good birthday! I love you Aunt LINA!!!

Happy Birthday Kayden

Happy Birthday lil man! I can't believe you are 4. You have had to go through so much in your life and you are my hero. Kayden has always been my lil buddy. I know that if there was a choice, he would go to Grandpa first. He was the first grandson born. He was born with hypoplastic kidneys. He ended up getting a kidney transplant 1 month after his 2 year birthday. I love how he loves to ask for his pink milk. He is SLOWLY eating. He loves Optimus Prime Transformer, Ironman, Spiderman, Star Wars "YODO", and most of all his BYU FOOTBALL. He is such an easy going kid. He will sit down and play with his toys for hours. He has had to go through so much in his short life, I will never be able to comprehend how much he or Tammy goes through on a daily basis. I love you so much Kayden! I love when you will come and tell me (and everyone else) that you love me the mostest. I love that you tell Grandpa that he is your bestest buddy. I know that really makes Grandpa happy. You are such a good brother to Koy and Lexi. I hope you have fun at Kidney Clinic today. The drs and nurses there are pretty much part of the family now. If it wasn't for them, you probably wouldn't be who you are today! I hope you have a good birthday! I love you Kayden!! You will always be my hero just like that day we went to see the BYU football team last year.. If you want to learn more about what Kayden has had to go through, you can check out Tammy's blog here

WHAT A DAY!!! (it wasn't a total wreck!) :)

I had so many things on my "to-do" list today. I started out by going to a Halloween store. I am looking for a good costume. I won the costume competition last year at Myriad so I at least have to dress up! I don't know if I will be able to win this year, last years was pretty good. If you wana see a pic, I will post it. I was a plumber and it was good! I won HANDS DOWN!! There is this Halloween USA store on State Street, it is HUGE and full of Halloween stuff. I mean, ISLES AND ISLES of costumes. So many to choose from I couldn't decide. So I left because mom and dad were coming up for a little family party for Kayden and Koy. I went to Wal-Mart to get some tape and scissors so I could wrap the gifts and to refill my prescriptions. That place was PACKED! I could NOT find a parking spot. I got my stuff and I was on my way to pick up the cake from Smiths. Got to the stop light, it was red. So I stopped and this old man behind me just rear-ended me. My head jerked back and hit the headrest (thank goodness we have headrests). I hurry and put on my hazard lights. The girl in the car in front of me jumped out of her car and I asked her if my car had hit hers, she said no but she saw in her rearview mirror what happened and she could tell by my head that I had got hit. The amazing part was that NOTHING happened to my car. The old man said that he saw me stop so he put on his brakes but he started sliding (it's been rainy and snowy on and off all day). The cops came and did their job. It is like his car just bounced off my car. My head has been hurting since with a headache and I can tell I have sore muscles in my back, but I think it just scared me more then anything. My parents were on their way, so they were able to come to where it was. (The girl in front of me called the cops while I called my dad! :))

We had a good birthday party for the boys. Kayden and Koy loved the trucks that mom and dad got them (it was a big semi that holds cars like they got Max). That is a HUGE hit with Koy, he just sits on the truck and rides around. Kayden LOVED the GREEN power ranger that he got from mom and dad. I got a pretty cool cake for them. It was a Transformer Optimus Prime cake. I have a picture on my camera (and Tammy and mom got a picture).. Kayden just sat there "That cake is AWESOME!" Then we went to McDonalds and had lunch. We did it the opposite, had dessert THEN lunch :)!

It has been really cold today. It seems like we totally forgot fall and went from Summer to Winter. It went from 60 degrees to now 35 degrees (i think that it was it is right now).. It is totally Utah weather today, the sun will come out then 10 minutes later it will be freezing! Don't you all just love Utah weather..

Well, that was the enjoyment of my day... Now I am going to go curl up and find something on tv. I never did finish getting my errands done today (prescriptions are filled at Walmart I just have to pick them up). I just love not having time to do everything that I need to do. BUT, a good finish to the day... I GOT MY COMPUTER BACK!!!! YAY!!!!!

Happy Birthday Koy

Happy Birthday to my big boy Koy! The youngest of the Labrum clan is 2! What can I say about Koy?!? He has always been my little shadow since I can remember. I can get him to do anything and everything! I have taught him MANY dance moves (raise the roof) and MANY little sayings ("GOT IT!" whenever I tell him you got it?) I love walking into their apartment and hearing his little voice get so excited and him just yell "NICKY!" He is such an active little boy and always on the move, always has been since he was little. He loves to do anything outside and he loves to play with Kayden! I have taught Koy to blame EVERYTHING on Grandpa! :) Koy is such a happy little guy (unless he doesn't get his own way) and I love him so much! Happy birthday Koy! I love this picture of Koy! It was taken at Orangeville Days. He was sitting in front of the old man band eating his food. He was the little groupie! :)

Time to grow up?

I was talking to Kayden and Koy yesterday about what they want for their birthdays (Koy's is the 10th and Kayden is the 13th). Koy just mumbles so I was trying to get him to say Spiderman. Then Kayden said "UM, Star Wars, Spiderman, and Optimus Prime" I said but what if you can only get 1 thing from Aunt Nicky, what would want? He sat there on the couch and said "well, I want my aunt nicky!" I said ok, I can do that!" then I asked the boys how old they were going to be. I'm trying to get Koy to say 2, but then he said 3,4,5. So at least he is starting to count! :) Then Kayden said 4 so he is right! I told Kayden, did you know that I am having a birthday! Guess how old I will be! I will be 26! Lexi said, so right now you are 25. I was holding Kayden and he said So when it's your bithday you gotta go grow up! I was laughing so hard. There's an age limit on when you have to grow up? I can't believe my little buddies are going to be 2 and 4.

Birthday month

Happy birthday to me! It's my birthday month!!!! YAY!! I have all month to celebrate.. I love October because it is full of birthdays.. Let's see if this year I am able to go to haunted houses and enjoy all the Halloween fun!! Kayden and Koy have birthdays this month too.. YAY FOR US!!!!

My vent session

I am debating about deleting this blog because I have found many people that I have gone to high school with and I LOVE to read about what is going on with them and their families they do not feel the same way and could care less about others. I know I am not married or have kids, I know my life may not be as interesting but I do have things going on in my life too. I have a thing called sitemeter on my blog and I can track who comes and looks at my blog. VERY few people comment on my blog. Sometimes my own family doesn't even comment on my blog. My family means so much to me. They are the ones I can always lean to no matter what. I have commented how many times the past few days and nothing. I know they are busy but if they post, I know it took time out of their daily schedule so I want them to know that read it and I acknowledge that. Sorry, I have just been having a lot of bottled emotions lately. I know while I was in school, I felt like I had no friends. I had to change friends pretty much yearly because for some reason after every year I didn't "fit in" with that previous years group of friends. I have been dealing with this my entire life. There are VERY FEW people who I have been able to call TRUE friends or even FRIENDS. To be honest, I don't know if I would EVER go back to high school if I had to because some people made my life a living hell there. I tried to hide it as well as I could. I am trying to make my life the best it can be right now. The Lord knows what he's doing. Maybe All my life I have been living like that. I remember in Elementary that before I could ride bikes to school with certain "friends" I had to call them everything morning and ask and then THEY had to call each other to see if it was ok. There were so many times that I was told no I couldn't ride bikes to school with them and I had to ride alone. In Jr. High getting on the bus to ride over to Ferron to SRJH, nobody wanted to sit with me. I was so glad that Jr High was over. In High School, I drove myself to school. I parked over by the seminary building. I parked right by Jessie Lloyd. Everyday she would say Hi to me going in. But I knew if she had certain "friends" with her, they wouldn't talk to me because I wasn't "cool" enough. This explains a lot of my anger towards people. This is why I don't really like seeing a bunch of people from high school. I'm not saying I didn't have any friends... I had friends.. There were a few in high school that I am actually still close to. I have gone through a lot the past 8 years since graduation. More then ANYONE will ever know. Even my best friends don't know everything. It is getting harder and harder to trust people because of things that have happened to me. But I come on here to see how people are doing and I leave comments on their blog just to say hi and just to show them that hey, someone from back home is thinking of me, or someone is wondering how i am. I'm not asking for a big TO DO about making all these comments on my blog... you could just be civil... like every once in a while POST something.. i don't like reading on others blogs about me that you got their blog from my blog.. but you don't even have the decency (sp?) to even say hi to me on my own blog.. that hurts more then you'll ever know!

I think I am done venting... because my eyes hurt and my head hurt and i am ready to start crying. I really just want friends who care. And if I was rude back in school, I am sorry. I am just a reserved person.. don't really open up. That's why i'm trying to open up on my blog so people can see the REAL, TRUE Nicky.. I'm not that bad of person people might think I am!

Movies an FHE

Tammy's question yesterday was List your best three movies you have seen this year or would like to see? (If you have more than three you may add them!)

I saw 27 Dresses in the theatre and I just LOVED it! I also saw BEE MOVIE. Me and my parents took Lexi, Kayden and Morgan right before Christmas time (when we had the Labrum christmas party) we all stayed in a hotel and went to a movie (Barrett and Chantel took Max and Koy). It was a lot of fun. Then the next morning we went to breakfast at Denny's. All the kids had to get the ROCKET cups. I don't really go out and watch movies. I wait for them to come out and video THEN if time comes, I go and rent them... I wish I had more friends up here in SLC that would go out and do things with me like that.

Tammy, I don't do anything for FHE. I am not in an FHE group. They have skipped over my name when they assign groups. So i don't want to just show up at some random house. I came home today and watched tv! I really wanted to go out to dinner but I had no one to go out to dinner with. I'm glad that you guys had fun down in Lehi at the Mascot Bowl. That sounds fun! The NFL team in AZ is the Cardinals. That's the team that Aaron Francisco plays for.

Don't look at the time when I wrote this! :) I woke up and I couldn't fall back to sleep but I got about 5-6 hours of sleep already! So it's not bad! I'm ready to lay down again and get a little more sleep..

Daily Routine

My daily routine is pretty boring. I work at 9:15 Monday-Friday.

I have my alarm set at 7, but I usually don't get up until about 7:30 or so. Then I get up and get my hair done and make up and slowly get dressed. At 8:00 in the morning, I HAVE to turn on the tv to TNT and start watching the re-runs of ER. Even when I was out with my surgery, I had to have ER on. I got addicted to the re-runs when I was working at Orchard Park and one of the residents would hurry and eat breakfast and go back to his room so he could watch 2 hours of ER. So when I started working at Myriad, I was sad I had to miss my morning ER. (I know, pathetic) I leave my house around 8:45 so I can be at work BEFORE 9:15 because you never know about that SLC traffic up by the U.

My daily work is the same thing over and over again. We don't have scheduled breaks or lunches, I just try not to be out the same time others are out just to make sure that the queue is covered at all time. There are times I leave right at 6 or I will be nice and stay after (all depends on my mood for the day :) )

When I get home, I usually eat dinner around 7-8. Since my surgery, I am learning what foods I can eat and what is hard to digest. I have learned chocolate is hard to digest(this is KILLING me) AND milk.. So for dinner, I have lately been having either sandwiches or eggs. Eggs have really been settling on my stomach lately.

I love to shower at night that way I can sleep-in in the morning so I always do that before bed. I get ready for bed around 9. When I was working at the rest home I would be irritated with some of the elderly people when we would be getting them ready for bed and everything had to be PERFECT (the sheets had to be perfect, things on the nightstand had to be perfect) and now I am seeing that I am starting to be that way and I get irritated with myself but I can't stop myself from doing it. So sometimes it takes me longer to get ready for bed. I wish I could just jump into bed and fall asleep but nope, can't. I have to make sure my chapstick is close, my water is there, my cell phone is in the right spot and most important my sheets CANNOT be wrinkled and if they are I will pull and tug and tighten until they are straight.

That is my daily schedule. But of course, I have my nightly tv shows.. Like now on Tuesdays it is the NEW 90210.. :) and Thursdays.. ER.. So if you call during those times, I won't answer :) or else I will answer just not talk...

Journaling Topics

My sister Tammy has started asking daily questions for people to blog about if you are interested. Like I have said, I have not had a computer. I am sitting here at my parents and I can sit and reflect and not have roommates waiting for the computer or sitting at work with my bosses over my shoulder wondering what I am doing.

Her first question was back on Tuesday Sept 23 and she asked "What's something you never thought you'd experience but have?"

After many days of reading this, I have debated of what to write. There are things that I am not going to write for my own reasons. But some things that I never thought I would have had to experience is having to go through depression. Having my family there through it all was probably the best thing. Tammy sat with me at my apartment until my dad got there and I don't know if I ever told her how much it meant. I know I told her many times to just go away! :) I was also SO surprised to have Barrett and Chantel drive down from Logan to be with us at that time. My mom was not able to be there because of school and it was the end of the school year. Nancy was not able to be there because she was on her mission at the time. My mom and dad were there the moment I could have visitors. As soon as Nancy found out about my depression, she wrote me and said that she had a feeling that something was not right with me and she knew something was wrong. My family really means a lot to me and I don't know if I tell them enough.

I also never would have thought that I would have had to learn as much medical stuff for my own family needs as I have. Having Kayden with his transplant and Tyler born early, I have had the opportunity to be there for so many dr appointments and so many milestones. I am so grateful for my family and letting me be part of their family's growing... I am also teaching all of the nieces and nephews to say I am the coolest aunt EVER! :)

I hope that this has been a good start for the journaling!

Week in Review

This past week has been really hectic for me.. I have not had a computer at my house so I have felt really lonely. Isn't it funny how technology pretty much runs our lives now?

I have had really bad insomnia lately so I have been taking advantage of every bit of sleep time I can get. I talked to my dr on Thursday and she gave me free 7 day trial for Ambien CR to see if that helps. I had to have a prescription from her to say to give it to me. So I went to Walmart to get it filled and the stupid people there took over an hour to give me a free trial. But I guess there were other people there that were quoted 30 minutes for their prescription and they still hadn't got it in 2 hours. So the managers were called and even then the pharmacist was really rude to us about it. I was ready to tell the pharmacist that I am going on about 5 days of no sleep, you do NOT wanna mess with me! But I just "peacefully" gave the managers my information and once I got my prescription went home and enjoyed my undisturbed night! :) I just didn't understand why it took that long to give me a free trial!!

I came down to Orangeville today. I really needed to get away from SLC! I bought new tires for my car (after having the car for 2 years I deseperately needed them). I dropped the car off at Castle Service in Huntington because my dad was working there today and I drove the truck home. When I got home, my mom was just starting to make the family recipe of chili sauce! We make this every year! This year was just different though, there wasn't a BYU game on to listen to. The first year in MANY years that I don't remember having a game on. It was really quiet! So me and my mom sat there stirring the chili sauce everytime we walked past the kitchen all day. It literally takes all day to make it and we only got 11 1/2 jars out of it! But it is WELL worth it! (and don't worry, I made sure every ingredient was put in this year)

Work has just been really busy! We are getting soo many people wanting testing done we can't keep up with samples anymore. It is getting close to the end of the year so deductibles are met. It always gets really busy closer to the end of the year, but this year samples are REALLY coming in. I think that the tests are really being known to patients and doctors are really encouraging people to get testing done.

Fall is officially here! I love this time of year. It is football season and it is time for my birthday! I can't believe that September is almost over! October is a busy month for our family, we have 3 family birthdays (mine, Kayden and Koy) and then not to mention my own cousins and my own Aunt Linda!

There is my week in review.. I will also be posting from Tammy's journaling topics that she has started.. I will be doing these more frequent (like when she posts them) when my computer gets revived.

Happy Birthday (a day late) Tyler

hospital2
Originally uploaded by nlabrum

I know this a day late, but my computer crashed.. (it got a virus) So I am sitting here at Tammy's. I wanted to say Happy Birthday to my little man, Tyler. I can't blieve that you are 3! This picture was taken the first time I got to hold you! Nancy surprised me when I got to the hospital and asked me if I wanted to FINALLY hold you. When she placed Tyler in my arms, I felt like I holding nothing. I asked her if she could get me a pillow to put under him so I could feel like I was holding something. I sat there just looking at this little miracle in my arms.

I remember the day that little Tyler was born! The night before he was born, I had taken my sleeping pill and I had gone to bed. I got woke up by a phone call from my parents saying that Nancy had gone into labor. I asked what day it was because I know when I had fallen asleep it was only September and I knew that she wasn't due until December so that had really confused me. I was starting to think I was having a dream. I ran out to the living room and told my roommates because they were still awake and they told me that since I had taken a sleeping pill, they would take me up to SLC. My family told me to go up to U of U hospital because they were going to life flight Nancy and/or the baby up there. So we fell asleep in the waiting room and it ended up that they didn't life flight them to U of U, and they weren't even going to go to U of U. My roommates were so good to me that night! After Tyler was born, they life flighted him up to LDS Hospital. As soon as we knew that they were going life flight him there, they took me there as fast as they could. I was the only family member there (everyone else was at Alta View with Nancy and Dallas). I got to see Tyler get off Life Flight and I was the "family rep" (as the life flight people called me) and I got to walk with him up the NICU. I spent a lot of time up there with Tyler in the NICU. I was so glad to be living so close to Nancy and Dallas when I moved up to SLC so I could spend a lot of time with them.

I can't believe my little man has turned 3. He has gone through so much in his 3 years. He is such a hero in my eyes! Thank you for letting me be your aunt! I have been part of your life since before you knew it! I was there for one of your ultrasounds and I am so glad that Nancy has allowed me to be there. Happy Birthday! I am going to come down in a few months to see you. I love you TyTy!

Old Friends New Memories

I love getting together with old friends, with certain people it seems like things left off where they were. Yesterday I had this exact thing happen!

I left work early because I was invited to go to Felicia Frandsen's (now Felicia Nielson) baby shower. She lives in Springville. She has been my best friends for about 10 years. We were in high school when we started hanging out non-stop. We have always been friends because our moms taught at the same elementary, but after we went to EFY the same time, we got really close. She is due on Halloween with a little boy. It doesn't matter how long we are apart, things always start back up where we left off and we can just laugh for hours! I got to her house early (I was the first one there) and we started laughing about old memories and I left her house at 1:30 this morning. Her husband Chad got there about 9 and all his friends from high school were there and I've hung out with them before (they actually invited me to go camping once with them) and we were all laughing. After they left and it was just me, Felicia and Chad we were all laughing. Chad fits in with us! For any of you who don't know how me, Felicia and Jessica Humphrey were on the weekends when we were in high school... I'll have to scan pictures to show you! We were crazy! I'm surprised that people even ackowledged they knew us! :)

Jessica Humphrey (she is now married) also was there. She just had twins on July 14. They are adorable! I sat there and held Brynn the entire time and she just smiled at me, Jessica was busy trying to stop Bracken from crying because he was not having it. I had not seen Jess in so long... We have been friends since I can remember. I have memories with Jess for a long time because we live right around the corner from each other and our neighborhood would always get together at Selma's on Sunday afternoon and play football. And also Jessica's parents introduced my parents so we have always been really close with their family.

I am so lucky to have the friends that I did in High school! If it wasn't for them, I don't know what or who I'd be or where'd I'd be. Me and Felicia were talking and laughing about our rollerblading times... When he cut open her entire hand behind Stewarts, we were rollerblading on main street in CD and it was summer and NOBODY was out. We had the videocamera stuck to our face as usual (hehe) and we were at Maverick and the huge Sitterud van with Stuart, Josh Begay, and Jesse Sitterud pulls up (need I mention the ONLY car out driving in CD) and I'm rollerblading and Felicia goes over to talk to them by the stop sign and I can't stop.. I hit the stop sign pretty hard.. down I fall, falling down teh stop sign. The boys were all laughing so hard, Felicia had the whole thing on film. All our dress-up moments. The EC County Fair... I am just so glad I got to have the memories I do. I guess that is what we all get for living in such a place as Emery County!

When I got home last night, I went through my pictures from growing up. I decided that I am going to scan them and randomly make posts about growing up and what the pictures are. I thought that would be fun! I have lots of pictures of friends, so be prepared! :)

I just want to tell my friends thank you! Even if we weren't close friends and we just were acquantainces... it does mean a lot to me. I really do cherish growing up down there. I wish every child has the memories that we have of growing up at a place like that. Where we didn't have to lock our doors, where we could play out with the neighbor kids and wait for the parents to stand out on the back porch to yell for you to come home because it is now dark, where we didn't have to worry about people breaking into cars or homes... I really do appreciate every friend I have! Thank you!

I know Felicia and Jessica doesn't read this, but I am SOO thankful for them! They have been my best friends for years!!! Yes we did have our fallout for a while, but we did get back together... And last, I want to tell Holly I am so thankful for you. You have been my other best friend since our sophmore year. I have a lot of memories of you! You have helped me through a lot! I know it's hard to get together now, but I know we will! Thanks guys!!! LOVE YA!!!

Fun Game

I found a fun game today. I've seen this on a couple people's blogs and I just had to post it!Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.Can't wait to see what memories you have of me!

I will never forget!

Where were you 7 years ago today? That day was 9/11/2001

I remember exactly where I was! I was living at Snow College and that day was a Tuesday because I had microbiology lab that day. I'm not sure if it was the first day of the lab or not. But my lab started at 7 am. I got up and went to class and I drove my car to class (it was like a block and a half from class). After the lab was over, I got back in my car and went home and I was listening to the Snow College radio station and heard the DJ's talking about the Twin Towers getting hit by planes and I said outloud "that is not a joke, why are they joking about something like that" and when I got my apartment, I sat out in the parking lot and kept listening. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I ended up calling my mom and I asked her if this was real. She said yes and that it was on tv and I could see the live thing on tv. At that time, our cable in the apartment hadn't been set up yet so we didn't have tv. I was going crazy!!! I found out that the neighbors in Pinetree #26 had their cable so I ran next door and the girls were all huddled around the tv. I just joined in! That day, nobody moved from the tv. It seemed like the longest day ever. I went to my design class just because I had it once a week but our teacher had the tv on and we just sat there watching the news all class. Everywhere you went, the tv was on and they were watching CNN. Everybody was in shock that this happened. That night our singles ward was called together to do a special ward prayer and special fast for the victims the families and I remember distinctly that the Bishop said that everything was going to be ok. We stayed at the church for a while after the prayer and nobody wanted to leave. We all wanted to stay together because we knew there at that time and place we were all safe. We were told to go fill our cars up with gas. I know that sounds funny but looking back, that is something I will ALWAYS remember. For some reason, the price of $1.78 sticks out in my mind. And I just looked on google for gas prices before 9/11 and it said $1.66 (according to money.cnn.com) So maybe that was the price of gas around that time. I have kept the newspaper from the next few days after 9/11 and they are currently in my cedar chest. I knew that one day I was going to have to teach my children about this and it is going to be history. I wanted them to know what it was like and what was the current events on those days.

While going to work, I drive past East High. Today they had a bunch of Veterans outside the flag pole. I was very intrigued by it and it really struck me. I love seeing the flag and knowing that people have fought to keep me free and to let me live the way that I have. On the radio they were taking phone calls and texts about "what were you doing 7 years ago" and they mentioned that the kids that are in school now probably don't remember what happened that day. That really hit me hard. I have been thinking about that all day. The seniors in High School today were only 10 years old that day. When I was 10, I was in 4th grade!

I wanna know what you were doing that day... Are you going to forget all the people who died that day? That day 2,974 people were killed. Every single one of them were someone special to someone. They were someone spouse, parent, child, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, etc... Don't forget! I know I won't!

Nicky's Life according to Google

Your life according to Google...
Type in the following and choose the first choice.

1:Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search:
Nicky needs help

2: Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search:
Nicky looks like she is about to pound jess in the boobs

3: Type in "[your name] does" in Google search:
Nicky does a food dance

4: Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search:
Nicky hates Pari$

5: Type in "[your name] goes" or "..has gone" in Google search:
Nicky goes to the doctor

6: Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search:
Nicky loves Richey

7: Type in "[your name] eats" in Google search:
Ncky eats cement (next one down says Nicky eats the poo poo)

8: Type in "[your name] has" in Google search:
Nicky has lunch on flickr

9: Type in "[your name] will" in Google search:
Nicky will be there for you


That was kinda fun.. I want everyone who reads this to do it! It is funny what comes up!

Pray for Tyler

Yesterday when I was walking in from my lunch break I got this text from my sister Nancy that her and Dallas were taking Tyler to the emergency room and to call mom and let her know. So right away I called my dad and told him and then I called Cottonwood Elementary and tried every number I could to get a hold of my mom to tell her. I finally just told Carol Stilson the situation and she said that she would personally walk it down to my mom. (We grew up with the faculty at Cottonwood so they treat us all like we are their own children. She was so worried and concerned) I texted Nancy and told her to keep me updated and I can let mom and dad know. A while later she texted again saying that they got scans and were just waiting and they were thinking it was his shunt but not sure. They did find out that it was his shunt and he was taken into surgery last night and to read all the details, Nancy put it on her blog. I got a phone call at about 9:30 from my dad saying that they would take Tyler into surgery within the next few hours so by that time my anxiety/nerves were just starting up. Then he called back at 11:30 and said it was all over and everything went fine and he is in the PICU. It was so hard for me because I don't remember a surgery that I haven't been at the hospital. He has been through so much in his short 3 years. He is such a fighter, he is one of my heroes! Get better soon Ty!! Aunt Nicky loves you. You need to be all better for your birthday party next week. I'm sad I won't be there but I'm going to come down in a few months and see you!

Back to work

I am back to work! Monday was a long day. I overslept so that made it hectic in the morning. I rushed to work, thank goodness I have good supervisors who understand, and for some reason about half our team was late that day. Come the end of the day, I had a hard time staying awake! I was exhausted by the time I got home! But I am glad to be back and glad to be able to do my job and not be in pain!! YAY!!!

Hairy Plums

Today I had the follow-up with the surgeon. Everything is healing right! YAY! She removed the sterry strips and put new ones on. I have had 2 incisions that have been leaking more then the others so I asked her about it. She said the one in the belly button will leak more because it is bigger and that is where they took the gallbladder out (I know everyone wanted to know that!) and there is 1 on the side that is leaking and she said that she applied a topical anesthetic so that is why it is leaking and it has a little more color to it. But I just have to keep the belly button one dry after the shower (q-tip) and they will be fine. The sterry strips will once again slowly curl up and peel off. Yesterday I drove up to my house from my parents. I was ready to stop driving by the time I got home. It was a long drive and I really didn't realize it until now. I stopped at Tammy and Josh's to drop off stuff that mom and dad had in my car for them. I stole Lexi and she came to my house with me. She was such a good helper. She unloaded my whole car for me. I cannot thank her enough for doing that. It was really hard for me to carry things and I didn't realize that it would be so hard. After we/Lexi unloaded the car, Lexi picked peaches off the tree at my house. She said for me to pay her back for helping her, I will give her peaches. She was really funny about them.

I stayed with the kids last night while Tammy and Josh went to a play at Hale Theatre, Lexi helped me out alot again. She really is a lot of help! She was eating a peach and she told me that she is just going to call them "Hairy Plums". It took me a minute to realize what she was saying but then I had to tell her they are peaches! She also wasn't too sure about the "hair" on them and if it was ok to eat it.

Thanks again for helping me Lexi! You are such a big help! You really did help me out. I will find a way to say thank you!

Surgery Update

I am down my parents! I had to be at St Marks 7:15 yesterday morning. My parents got to my house around 6:45. My dad gave me a priesthood blessing then we went to St Marks. They got me back into a room but then they told us that my dr had an emergency surgery she ended up doing so my surgery got pushed back from 8:15 to 9:15. Me and dad fell back to sleep and mom went back to playing her Soduku. Soon they came back in to take me to pre-op and get me hooked up to IV. Mom and Dad rode with us in the elevator. It only took the pre-op nurse 1 poke to get the IV in!! YAY!! When the anesthesiologist came to take me to the operating room, he was putting a medication in my IV and said that it wasn't the main medicine but it would start to calm me down (I wasn't nervous) and my nurse jokingly said "Nicky, the only thing you need to remember is your nurses are Miss America and her runner-up" and then the other techs said "And the rest of your team is the "A" Team" so we laughed about that and I said that I could remember that. They were putting something on my legs so I asked what they were, a tech said it was it make sure my blood my circulating and then the anesthesiologist put something on my head (not sure what it was) but he said that it was to watch my brain waves. That was the last thing I remember. Next thing I remember I was in recovery. I was crying because my belly hurt, so the nurse that was with me gae me pain meds in the IV. I remember asking them, "Did they end up having to cut me open?" Then I fell back to sleep. I could hear her talking on the phone to someone. But I was out of it! They took me back to my room in Pre-Op and mom and dad were there waiting for me. I kept going in and out of sleep. The nurses there were NOT good!!! I would sleep because I was bored. I just wanted to go home! Dad went and talked to them about coming in and checking my iv because the antibiotics they gave me had run out, and they never came in. We finally left at about 3. Mom and Dad took me back to my house so I could take a pain pill. While we were at the hospital getting ready to leave, I told the nurse I was starting to be in pain again, but she said the only thing I have ordered that they could give me is morphine and if they give that to me then I would have to stay another half hour for them to monitor me. I told them it was fine, I have pain pills at my house and to just let me go. So I got home and laid down and rested while Mom and Dad went to go see Tammy and the kids and they dropped off my meds at Wal-Mart. We left SLC around 4:30-5 to head back to EC. As soon as we got home, I went to bed.

I woke up today before mom and dad! I know, crazy! They slept in! It was after 8:30 or so when they woke up! WOW!! I am only hurting on the incisions on the side right now. The numbness is coming out of them so I am little more tender now. But I do feel a WHOLE lot better.

Dr Kolc (the surgeon) said that I needed that gallbladder out. While she was in with the laser, she took a look around, she told mom and dad that I do have some endometriosis and I need to talk to Dr Anderson about getting changed on another birth control. So I will call him and let him know. She was a really good surgeon and I would recommend her to anyone (maybe not St Marks hospital) but definately her!

So, now I am done with surgery and just going to recover. I am already feeling a lot better. I can actually sit up straight without pain! I know that isn't much, but for a whole month, that would cause me so much pain!! I will keep you updated on my recovery. The past 2 Labor Day weekends I have had surgeries (knee surgery last year) I am going to break the tradition now. No more surgery! :) Next year I am going to ENJOY the holiday!

Change

I changed the background of my blog because I was confusing my mom (and myself). It just happened that me and my sister Tammy picked the same background. So I decided to change it. :)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Nancy!


I really look up to you and I see what trials you have been given and what you and Dallas have gone through. You are such an inspiration to me. I have really missed having you close (not only for the food but for the friendship). You are a great mother to Tyler! I hope you have a good birthday! I know Dallas will make it good for you, he always does. Know that I am thinking of you! I know this picture isn't the best, but it is all I have right now! (sorry Chantel, you're not in)

Surgery Update

I met with Dr.Kolc today at 10:00. She will be doing my surgery. She was very nice and it was nice to go to the dr for the pain in my abdomen and for once, not have them push on it! Surgery is scheduled for Friday. I won't know the time until Thursday but Dr.Kolc said that I will probably be one of her first patients that day. This past weekend I have been really nauseated and nothing seems to help. Today I have been in a lot of pain! So I am really looking forward to this! I don't have to work on Monday because it is Labor Day (WAHOO!) so that is 1 more day to recover! So there is the update.. Friday is the day for surgery to get this gallbladder out..

Idiot! (as Napoleon would say)

I don't know why, but changing my blog just took me like 2 hours and it had step by step and I STILL couldn't follow what it said/meant. I even tried calling my mom and my sister to walk me through it, thank goodness they weren't home because I would never hear the end of it.

I was able to rent out the other 2 rooms in the duplex today. It went a lot better this time then it has in the past. I posted the ad online on Thursday and people started contacting me right away. It really helped that it was so close to school starting and having empty rooms. PLUS, the house in a really convenient location.

Myriad Data Entry has changed our schedules once again! But this time, I think it might be ok! Everyone is on the same schedule and no more late Fridays or working weekends!! YAY!! So, my new schedule is 9:15 to 6 Monday-Friday. We have to follow that Fed-Ex truck, so I can't say I have all holidays off because Fed-Ex comes on some holidays. But it isn't bad now that Tammy and Josh are up here because that means I have family up here! :)

I babysat Kayden and Koy this morning for Tammy while she went on her interview. You can read about it here. I am so glad to have them close. Koy had climbed into his chair at the table, so when I walked into the house he was ready for me to get him out. Hearing him say my name and get all excited to see me just makes my day! He can't say my name right so it is even better hearing it "KICKY!" That kid never stops running. I had to have him sit on my lap because he was hitting the dog and I had his blanket and that made him fall asleep. I'm just so glad they are here!

I will let you guys know after my consult on Monday what is going on!

I HAVE AN ANSWER!!!!

Since I have still been having these pains in my abdomen area and no answers as to why, my dr ordered me to have a HIDA scan. I had that done this past Monday at St.Marks. I can just say I was in complete MISERY!! I met with the dr for the results today... My gallbladder was at 30% and "normal" I guess is at 35%, so I meet with a surgeon on Monday Aug.25 and set up a time to get it taken out! SO, hopefully that will take care of this pain! So, that is my update. Other then that, just living and working in pain.. :) I will keep you updated more when I know! So Monday at 10 is when I have my appointment. It will be at St.Marks Hospital..

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!




31 years ago my parents got married in the Ogden Temple. I love hearing their story, it shows true love! 2 of my moms friends were up at Utah State and they had this friend (my dad) who wanted a girl to write him on his mission. SO, Jay and Joylynn Humphrey asked my mom if she would write this missionary. For almost the 2 years my dad was on his mission in California, my mom wrote him on his mission. He came home and had his misson homecoming and he proposed to my mom. He had his sisters pick out the ring for him. 2 months later they got married for time and all eternity in the LDS temple. Not long after that the kids came. For the first few years they were married, they lived in Cornish, Utah with the rest of the Labrum family working on the farm. Right before I was born, they moved down to Emery County. Where they have lived ever since.

They have 4 kids, 3 who are married, and 6 grandchildren. Their grandchildren light up their life! They have taught me so many things and have been there for me so many times, I don't know where to start! They are great examples to me. I hope you have a great anniversary! I hope your 1st day of school went ok.

Pictures

Last time when I was home, I saw this whole field of blue flowers on the way up to Grassy Lake. The first thing that came to my head was "BLUE FLOWERS RED THORNS! This wouldn't be so hard if I wasn't colorblind!" So I had to take a picture! (For those of you who don't know, it's from Shrek)
Here are a few pics that I finally downloaded from my camera!


Just a picture of Grassy Lake. Isn't it so pretty? We left right before that rain cloud got there. PERFECT TIMING HUH MOM!?!? Going down the dug-way with that rain was so scary!

A big blow-up of Tim McGraw! Isn't he SOO good-looking? :)

Blood test results

I finally got the EBV test result back.. I called the dr yesterday, the test results were there BUT the dr wasn't there to "read" them so I had to call today to have him call me back. AAARRRGGGHHH, I think dr's can be frustrating! :) (yes I say that and my brother is a dr) I don't understand if the results were there why someone else couldn't read them! THEN, the office closes and nobody calls.. So I bugged them because I wanted these results! The EBV results came back as negative. It showed that I have had the virus before (which is true) but not recently. And I guess he had tested stomach acid (I don't know exactly) and that came back normal. I was in a lot of pain yesterday when I got home from work. The pain was right below my sternum, where it always has been. I was doubled over in pain last night (also crying). I let the dr know that it has been pretty bad today also, so I will be going back to the dr tomorrow. So I will let you know what he says about THAT!

On the Mend

I went back to work a few days this past week. It was really hard! There was a lady at work that was sick a little longer then I was with pretty much the same thing I had. The dr's couldn't find anything wrong with her but her liver function was high. We talked and our symptoms were VERY similar. On Friday she got some test results back and she was postive for... MONO! AND, there have been a few other people out at work the past few days with the same thing we had.. We are all hoping there is not an epidemic of a mono breakout at my work.

On Thursday, I went and had a follow-up with my dr here in SLC and I do not have an ulcer!! YAY!! I have gastritis so I will be on the prilosec to control the acid reflux. I also had them test me for mono. I have not got the results back yet so I guess we will see what they say! I have had so many blood tests trying that they have had a hard time trying to find a vein. But I told the dr do not do a strept test on me because it will come back negative.

Today was Aunt Kaye and Uncle Duanes mission homecoming. I love being with the Labrum family. I love hearing stories about Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa Labrum have had many missionaries come from their family. I counted 20, and that was including Grandma and Grandpa. What great examples we have as a family! Not to mention all of the men that have/or in bishoprics. I was so little when Grandpa passed away so I don't have many memories of him. Having De and Scott tell stories about farming back in the day... Then of course, Kenny arguing saying "THIS IS HOW IT IS" then you have Uncle Duane saying "No, THIS IS HOW IT IS!" Just another Labrum trait, as Scott said! :) Having the family together is always so much fun! There is never a dull moment when the Labrum family is together!

I have pictures I finally downloaded from when the family went to Chuck-E-Cheese and when I went home and went fishing at Grassy Lake AND from when me and Tammy went to Tim McGraw. It is late so I will post them later.

ER again!

These sharp pains were really starting to bother me. Sunday my visiting teacher came over and brought me a meal that her mom made (fried chicken) but it wasn't as good as MY moms. :) I then asked her if she could get 2 men to come over to give me a blessing. So the Elders Quorom President and a member of the Bishopric came over and they gave me a priesthood blessing. It was a really good blessing. During the blessing the plains were so sharp in my side, I was just crying so hard. I said to myself that I will go throughout the night and see how I feel. I will let the Lord do his part and I will see how I do. Well, I had noticed that in the mornings I was ok, but around 2-3 in the afternoon was when the pain would come.

Sure enough, the pain came today. I drove myself back down to the ER. They put me in the very last room. My nurse didnt come in for so long. The Dr actually came in before the nurse did. They drew my blood did all the regular tests.. And of course, everything came back normal.

I was there for about 5 hours. My nurse only came in like 2 times. I made sure to complain because I had called for her and they said someone would be right in, and nobody showed. Again, the dr showed before the nurse did. The dr released me at about 10:30. Said that it is pre-ulcer. They had given me a bag of antacid in my iv. I feel SOO much better. It has been a whole week since I have felt this good! So now I have to treat that!

Well, I am really tired so I am off to bed!

Case of the BLAHS

Sorry, I got really tired all of a sudden last night.

So this whole week, I have been suffering with fever, migraine and unknown pain. It is so strange that none of the dr's can explain where the infection is coming from. When I went to the ER, the dr there circled the elevated levels of the liver that were EXTREMELY high (like triple what they should be) but then sent me home. I was alone and they had given me pain meds so I said "ok" and went home. But, I would think that would or SHOULD have kept me to do more investigation on WHY they are elevated. Because when you see a number that is supposed to be between 50-136 and it was 343, to me that really makes me start to question. I wanna know why they sent me home.

I have been feeling better today. I have either had no fever or just a low grade fever but I have had really bad sharp pains. So I am going to see how I do throughout the night.

Well, that's the excitement of my week.. :)

I got the hint mom!

I know it has been a while since I posted last, thanks for rubbing it in mom! :) I can't sleep so I thought I would come and post.

Everything with the knee came back just normal. The MRI didn't show any tears or anything so Dr Hansen gave me another cortisone shot. It will still hurt every once in a while but not NEARLY as bad as it did. I go back to him on Monday for a follow-up.

I went to the zoo with mom, dad and the grandkids (minus my TyTy)on Friday. Walking around that place would give anyone a good workout! It was so fun and the kids really loved it. When Morgan saw me she ran right up to me and jumped in my arms and said "NICKY! I love you!!" Max on the other hand... I had to stay arm length away or else he would start laughing because he know I would maul him with my kisses. The kids all had their animals that they wanted to see (sometimes twice). That night, we ate at Chuck-E-Cheese "where a kid can be a kid" (i was singing that) They had really tight security there. The child got a stamp with the parent they came in with and they had to go out with that parent. But it was a stamp that was a black light stamp, the kids thought that was pretty cool.

Saturday I went swimming at Tammy's pool. Then that night I started feeling really sick. So after swimming, I just went home and slept.

Sunday I woke up with a HUGE migraine so I thought sleeping it off might do the trick. NOPE!!! I started getting a really high fever. Tammy and Lexi took me to U of U urgent care and ran I swear every test possible. NOTHING! They thought I had a kidney infection so they were going to give me an IV antibiotic there BUT, they couldn't get a vein so I got a shot for the migraine and nausea and shotS for the antibiotics. I was a human pin cushion. I had 10 needle pricks that day.

Tuesday I STILL didn't feel anybetter so I called the Family Practice I usually go to and they got me in. I did UA and more blood. blood came back fine but elevated liver numbers. So I'm supposed to go back next week to have them check it again. He ordered abdomenal ultrasound on the liver and I did that today.

Last night I ended up in the ER. SOOO dehyrated. and the Dehyration made me have a huge migraine. Took more blood and urine. No kidney infection but VERY high liver numbers. I have been really scared. I haveb't done anything to do anything to damage my liver.

I am getting tired now.. I will write more tomorrow!

AGAIN!?!?!

I thought after last year ended, I was done with all my medical problems but I guess I thought wrong!

Memorial Day weekend, I fell while I was down at my parents. We were up enjoying dinner at my cousin Scott's restaurant that he just opened at Joe's Valley Marina and Koy was running away from us so I ran after him and I fell right on my left knee. I really bruised up my knee and it happened to be the knee that I had surgery on last August so I got really worried about it. I got back to my parents and iced it and really babied it the rest of the weekend. I went to Dr Hansen (my orthopaedic surgeon) and he looked at it, and thought I just bruised it down to the bone and said to come back if it continues to hurt. Not a big deal! Well, few days later Barrett came down with my couch since he was moving. I was trying to help him move the couch in. I didn't realize my leg was not as strong as I thought and I fell with the hide-a-bed couch and it fell right on my LEFT knee! Barrett asked if I was ok, I got up and Barrett was FABULOUS and got the couch in my house! The pain didn't go away but the bruising did. I just let the knee pain slide by and kept thinking it would go away.

Finally last week, I couldn't handle it anymore! Behind my knee was getting so swollen and it was honestly hurting so bad to walk! I broke down and called Dr Hansen again. They got me in last Thursday. He gave me a cortisone shot and said to let him know if it doesn't work and all the goods... That brings me to now... I can hardly put any pressure on my leg. My leg is so swollen. It hurts so bad behind my knee, the inside of my knee, below my knee.. I called Dr Hansen yesterday and they were able to get me in today. I went and saw him today and when he walked in the room and saw my leg, his reaction said it all! So I am scheduled to get an MRI tomorrow morning at 6:20 am (yes, in the morning!). Good thing the MRI place is just down the road and my leg is so swollen I can't wear levi's to work! :) Dr Hansen told me to pull out my crutches and try not to put weight on my leg. I have been icing it and keeping it elevated and having it wrapped up in an ace bandage. It hurts SO BAD!! It has started to have shooting pain down the front of my leg all the way to the ankle (so Dr Barrett, any ideas what it could be) I go back for the follow-up Monday, so I guess we will go from there.

That has been my excitement! :) I know it sounds so much fun, so much it makes you want to jump up and down! :) HA HA! If you are jumping, please jump for me.. since I can't!

Well, it is 8:00. I need to go shower so I can hit the sack. 6:00 comes WAY too early for me! :)

GOODNIGHT! :)