We took a quick family trip to Willcox, AZ and Tombstone. We went to Willcox to a farm that had a pumpkin patch, sunflower patch, and tons of vegetable patches. We went through their corn maze too. We ended up picking 2 pumpkins, a red bell pepper, a hot pepper, some black eyed peas and a funking looking summer squash. Yes we took the dogs on our trip. Rudy is a traveling man. Bella shook and was terrified the whole time. All in all they did good and we had a great time together.


We saw a show before we came to Tombstone. It was called Ghost Lab. It was all about the ghosts of Tombstone. It was interesting. Needless to say the kids enjoyed it and it gave us some locations and things to do and look at while we where there. I think that the Boothill Graveyard was the highlight for us.

Anniversary

Today is Clint and my 16th wedding anniversary. It seems like only yesterday, but it seems like 40 years ago. How does that happen? I guess it is the same thing with your kids. To have two teenagers now is pretty scary. It means that I am getting really old. I never thought that I would be 36 years old. I remember when I was younger we threw a big party for our neighbor that was turning 30. She seemed SO old. Well that was 6 years ago for me now and boy I feel old. Life has been full of ups and downs for us and I am sure it will continue to be full of them. But here's wishing for many more years together.

Fry's shopping trip

I couldn't find my camera charger so my son was savvy enough to take a picture with his cellphone. It's not very clear but I wanted to post a picture anyway. Before the Fry's card savings my total was $200.00. After the Fry's card, the buy ten deal, and all my coupons my total was $76.09. It was still more than I wanted to pay but I did get a lot of stuff. Almost 2 full cases of Smart Water, 22 bottles at .49 cents each. A 24 can case of Mtn Dew for $4.97. You could get it for $3.97 if you bought 3 cases of Pepsi products, but I didn't want that many. Toilet paper was $5.oo. I ended up with 78 items and my balance was $76.09. So $1.00 an item wasn't too bad, but I still think I can do better.
Thanks to the guidance of my sister Moira-Lin I may perfect this coupon thing one day.

We are moving tomorrow. We will be in Tempe with Clint's mom and dad for awhile. We are so grateful to them and the sacrifice they will be making for our family. They will be gaining 4 people and 2 dogs. We are looking forward to this new adventure. Our old adventures weren't too hot. Last night as I was sorting the medicine cupboard a roach decided to climb up my leg. So done with them!!!! Our address and phone number are going to be changing. You will still always be able to get a hold of us on our cell phones. Our address will be: 122 E. La Jolla Dr. Tempe, AZ 85282
For the new phone number send me an email and I will email it back to you. We will be sharing a phone with mom and dad so I want to be sure I know who is calling. When we get settled I will write about how life is going. P.S. We are meeting with our Lawyer next week about the Insurance issue.

We just met with our Realtor about selling our house. We bought this house in 2000 for $107,000. In 2006 this house appraised for $250,000. Today it is selling for $89,500. And no I didn't forget to put in a 1. When I heard this my stomach did this weird twisty thing. A little bit of shock, little bit of anger, a little bit of well this IS OUR life. Things are still up in the air about a couple of things with our move but we continue to move a little bit of stuff each day. The storage shed we rented is filling up fast.

The Answer

We received "The Letter" in the mail today. Our Insurance had already denied our request for them to cover Addison's formula for her feeding tube. So we appealed. We sent out letters from Addison's different Dr.s stating why she needs the food. We jumped through hoops and finally heard the answer for our second appeal. The answer is.... DENIED!!! They also let us know that because they are only the administrators of the Insurance not the actual funders of the insurance that their answer will not change. And because Southwest Gas is "Privately Funded" insurance they are not affected by the law that the State passed saying that this kind of food has to be covered. So now we will get back in touch with our Attorney and see what we can do from here. This was a very frustrating blow for us. I think we felt positive that they would cover it. I guess all we can do now is to keep trying. That is starting to be one of the motto's for our family. The other motto is "Life is hard, suck it up".

MOVING!?!?!?!?

We just heard that the short sale of our home is finally recorded and finished. That only took about 9 months. I could have had a baby in that time. Heaven help me, but still. I will just say the buyers could not have been any more difficult to work with. Even Clint finally got fed up when they made the WHOLE sale contingent on us returning the dishwasher. Were they not getting a good enough deal already? So his little stick it to you was when he returned the dishwasher (remember the LITTLE roach problem we have?) there was a dead roach on top of it and he left it there. He really wanted to add a big bow but couldn't find any ribbon. My stick it to ya was keeping the garage door opener remote (valued at $75). Addison loves to play with it. Say La Vee ( spelled my way).
Well we have come to the conclusion at our house that we need to make a drastic decision. We are going to go through the whole awful process of another short sale. Between the Insurance being butts and all the other bills that we have our best choice is to move in with the folks. Clint's mom and dad have a tri-level house that they are so generously going to let us live in. We will have the top floor, they will have the basement, and we will share the main floor. Keep in mind that we are also bringing 2 dogs. At least we had already given away the frogs, turtles, the other 2 puppies, and the rabbit. Oh, heck. And I wonder why I am stressed. We have also decided that we are going to try a Distance Learning program for school this next year for the kids. I will not send them back to their Jr. High because it totally sucked!!! So we will see how that works out. We are keeping our fingers crossed on that one. We are still anxiously awaiting word from the Insurance co. So that is life as we know it here on the funny (and stressed) farm.

Blessings!!

Today we went to the GI Doctor for a check-up on the Feeding Tube. The Dr.'s are still concerned that she is losing weight. She has not been as nauseous lately. She seems to be tolerating her feeds better too. She still complains that she is hungry. The Dr.'s went ahead and upped her food from 1600 calories a day to 2200. She is feeling less hungry already just after a couple higher feeds. As long as she doesn't get worse with feeling sick and nauseous we can try to shorten the feeds from an hour to 30 minutes. The insurance is still refusing to cover the cost of the special formula that Addison survives on. Her Dr.'s have been helpful with letters to our Insurance. We have a Lawyer waiting in the wings "just in case" the Insurance denies our appeal. Our parents have been very generous helping out with the cost of the food. At $1225 a month it has been stressful for us. Today Addison's GI Dr. gave us some formula. It was almost three whole boxes. There was 17 cans @ $35 a can = $595 worth of formula. (She needs 35 cans of formula a month now that they upped her calories. So every little bit helps.) What a testimony of tithing this is for us. I have been a little bitter lately with the way our life has been going. I have never questioned paying tithing, but lately I have been thinking when I write that check out for tithing how much food that would buy for Addison. But I still write it out knowing that is what I am SUPPOSE to do. What a blessing this was for us today.

Addison's Feeding Tube Journey

Addison posted her journey on her blog and did such an amazing job I didn't need to post it. Go to sassafrass on my Family blog list to see her journey!

Playing Catch Up

We thought it would be fun to bring two new puppies home to join Bella and Rudy. They are super cute and bundles of energy. We wanted to just get the little girl but when we saw her and her brother together we just could not separate them. The kids fell totally in love with these puppies. Everyone fell in love with them except for Rudy. He would attack them whenever they got to close to him or his things. After trying diligently for a week we just couldn't deal with that anymore. We were able to give the puppies back to the vet that we bought them from. It was a very devastating day at the Fincher house.

We thought we had our Roach problem taken care of last winter. But as soon as the temperature started to rise out came the roaches. Our bug man is awesome and spent a long time with us looking behind cupboards and the dishwasher trying to find out where these little buggers were coming from. We found a huge hole that we thought had been sealed up but over the years had opened up again. It was pretty disgusting. So we thought we had it fixed again. I have to say that we have gone from finding 2-3 roaches a day to 1-2 roaches every 3-4 days. I guess that's good. It still is not good enough for me, but what you gonna do about it?

Addison has still been struggling with her health. She went through another colonoscopy and endoscopy. Her eosinophill counts were really high still and the sores in her esophagus and colon were still pretty bad. So we finally decided to go ahead with the GTube. Which is a feeding tube that is surgically put into her stomach. That will take place on the 28Th of April. We are hoping and praying that this will help Addison to not be so sick and in so much pain anymore.

We also took Rudy to the vet. He had this big bump on his head and the hair around it starting to fall out. I have to admit that it took me way longer to take him in then it should have but when you hardly have time to pee making a vet appointment is not a priority. Anyways they took a scraping of the bumps (which buy this time had now spread to his ears and face) and came back with the diagnoses that they are mites. YUCK!!! So he has been on an antibiotic for 2 weeks and is also on this horrible medicine that I have to squirt into his mouth that smells like some kind of bug spray. He totally hates it and it's a fight to get him to take it everyday. He will have to be on it for one month total. His bumps are finally starting to look better.


I have been pretty overwhelmed to say the least this last month. We are also in a constant battle with the Jr. High about Addison. I thought getting a 504 plan would help me hold the school a little more responsible for helping Addison. Boy was I wrong. So we are now debating whether to send her to a different school next year or stay at Carson. If we stay at Carson I will make darn sure that Addison gets another counselor. Hers this year is a total Beeyatch.
Hopefully I won't be such a slacker and try to stay up on my blog a little better.

MY Bed

This is how my bed looks every night. It starts out with 1 dad, 1 daughter, & 1 dog. When I go to bed there is 1 dad, 1 mom, & 2 dogs. I move daughter to my floor. So last night I was trying to go to sleep and Clint is one of the loudest snorers I have ever heard. I usually have to kick him a few times to get him to roll over so he will stop snoring. Last night was no different. I reached over and was kicking his leg and I thought I heard something. The snoring never stopped. So I reach back over and kick him again and I hear the noise again and then I realize what it is. It is Bella growling. Bella had moved down by Clint's feet and I had been kicking her and she did NOT like it. I had to chuckle to myself. A song started going through my head: There were 5 in the bead and the little one said roll over, roll over. I feel like this most nights as I am kicked out of my bed by 1 daughter, 1 Bella, & 1 Rudy.

Do you have a Green Thumb?

This gives new meaning to "Green Thumb".

Rudy loves to dig in the freshly mowed grass.

HAIR!!!

Miss Addison was ready for another hair-cut. We had been taking her to Lolli Locks. A fun hair salon especially for kids. It was also pretty pricey. So I had a go at her hair this time. She loves her hair short because it is so much easier for her to take care of. Plus it is a whole lot SASSIER. I just think she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. After a couple hours of cutting, evening, and trying to get the style just right~ here is the end result. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Valentine Day Treats

This is from Clint. He knows I Love chocolate and the movies. He also knows that I love Rosa's, so we went there for lunch today.

These are some SWEET TREATS from my wonderful Addison. She home-made these all by herself. The first are her hand prints. She put them in a shape of a heart. Then wrote a cute note in the middle.

This is a box of conversations hearts that she painted pink, added two pieces of ribbon with Dove chocolate wrapped in tin foil. Then she made the cute signs for the front. LOVE IT!!!

Trash Man

I sure wish the Trash Man made house calls!!

Night Out

Clint & I went out to dinner tonight with my mom & dad. We went to Olive Garden & had a good time. They gave us some good ideas on things we can do to make our family run smoother. I am just so tired from all the many things that I am in charge of to keep our family& home running. We came up with a plan that will hopefully give me more free time, Clint more "fun" time with the kids, & give the kids more time to (hopefully) entertain themselves. After our delicious dinner we were walking to the car when I get this frantic call from home. Addison is upset and I couldn't really understand what she was saying, but I heard something about Jarom being trapped in the bathroom. I get all worried and ask her to slow down and tell me again what is going on. Finally I understand that she was telling me that there is a big roach in the hallway in front of the bathroom & Jarom is trapped inside because he doesn't want to open the door in case the roach gets him. Meanwhile the dogs are trying to eat it until Addison starts to really scream and then they go hide under the table. My mom tells them to go get some hairspray and spray the roach so it won't move. Then we tell Addison (because Jarom won't come out of the bathroom, all we hear is him screaming) to get the vacuum and suck it up. Addison tries to suck it up with the vacuum but it won't move because it is now stuck to the floor. They had gotten Aussie Sprunch spray and boy was it stuck to the floor. I told her that she has to scrape it a little with the hose so that it will come up. She says, "nuh - uh". So I say $5.00 to whoever sucks it up, cause I don't think the kids will move until that thing is gone. So out comes Jarom and he sucked that roach right up. I think that $5.oo is a small price to pay. When we got home the kids showed us where the roach was. You can see where the sprunch spray went all around it. I took a picture so hopefully you can see it. Just squint your eyes a little and turn your head this way and that. It was so sad to hear their screams but once I knew they were safe it was kinda funny. Thanks for the fun time, we love you mom & dad!

25 Random things about me

I did this on Facebook along with many other people. So I thought that it would be fun to share it on the blog for all those non-facebook people. So anyone that has already done it- tag you're it. Here is an easy post and a fun way to let all of us get to know you better. All those that haven't done it yet- tag you're it. It really isn't hard and it is super fun for all of us to read some fun little tidbits about you.

1.I was suppose to be twin boys. No ultrasounds when I was born so Dr. went by how big my mom measured and heart my rate.
2. I worked in the Mall for about 2 years in a frozen yogurt shop.
3. I worked in a movie theater for 3 1/2 years during High School. Met some really great people working there. It was a fun job. I quit when I was getting married. At the time I was an Assistant Manager.
4. When I was growing up I would get up really early in the morning to watch TV. With 6 kids, there wasn't many other times that you got to watch what you wanted to watch.
5. I was the "peacemaker" growing up in my family until I turned 13. Then all bets were off.
6. Grew up on a really great street. All the kids would play outside and the moms always did fun activities with all of us.
7. When I was growing up I wanted my own room so badly that I took over my mom and dad's bathroom. I hoped to make it my own room. The shower was too small for me to sleep in though. I only made it one night. Back to the bedroom with 4 girls!
8. I did gymnastics and clogging for many years growing up.
9. I did shot put and discus in High School.
10. I was obsessed with Patrick Swayze and all things "Dirty Dancing" when I was in Junior High.
11. I actually loved High School.
12. I love Movie's. I still try to go once a week.
13. I got married when I was 20. Met my husband in Courtship and Marriage class at GCC Institute.
14. I am a Certified EMT (about 20 years ago). Love to learn about how to fix, treat or save someone.
15. I would love to go back to school and do the EMT class again. Would like to become a Nurse or something else in the Medical field.
16. Had my first child when I was 21. It was not an easy first couple of years.
17.Had my second child when I was 23. She was 5 weeks early. She weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces. She was healthy enough to come home next day. (This was way back when you only got to stay one day.)
18. Had a Hysterectomy at the age of 29. That was tough, but now I am glad it's done.
19. I love to read. Novels, mystery's, but nothing to deep doctrine-y. Boring!!!
20. I love shopping. My daughter loves it even more than I do. Scary!
21. I love to shoot guns. And I love archery. That was my favorite part of Girl's Camp - the archery part.
22. I spend many hours watching my son play gruesome horrible games on X-Box. It is the one thing that he loves to do. So I do it because I'm a mom.
23. I would love to move either to Southern Utah or the East Coast. Hate the heat. I love trees and having 4 actual season's. The leaves just started falling off the trees here. For about 3 days. There are already new leaves on the trees. Weird!
24.I love Mexican food. It has to be really good though. Nothing worse than bad Mexican food. For those East Valley people, Rosa's is my favorite.
25. My sisters are my Best Friends.

I look forward to getting to know all you bloggers a little bit better.

How could you not love dogs?

One day when Addison was home from school she was in my room reading some American History for school. I went in to check on her and found both dogs had found her and decided to take a nap by her. She loves her dogs!


Bella has fallen in love. Since Rudy has come to our family she is a totally different dog. She has found a soul mate. Bella and Rudy truly do love each other. Rudy has taught Bella how to play like a dog (instead of like a human baby). They love to wrestle with each other. They love to snuggle together for naps. Bella knows that Rudy is in charge and when he tells her to back off boy does she know it. He is so gentle with her. He truly adores Bella. He follows after her like a love sick puppy. You often see them giving each other kisses. These dogs have enriched our family more than I ever thought possible. I thought this picture was so sweet. Addison found them laying like this one day. It looks like an upside down heart.

I thought that my Hysterectomy was hard. Don't get me wrong it was, but this last week I have taken care of someone who's was even harder. This last week Bella was spayed. I knew it was going to be hard but I had no idea how hard it was going to be. Clint dropped her off the morning of and when the Vet checked Bella out she realized that two of Bella's baby teeth had not fallen out and her two new teeth had already grown in. So she was not only spayed but also had two teeth pulled. We also had her micro chipped. Addison and I got to pick her up when she was all done later that day. It was horrible. She kept dry heaving and drooling everywhere. We were really concerned about her. She had to wear a cone because she would not leave her incision alone. The cone was so big she could not reach her food or water. I cut her cone down so it was a little more manageable for such a little dog. My sister Marni decorated it with some vinyl polka dots. Thankfully the next day she was a little bit better. Then the next day I was showing my mom her incision and commenting on how high it looked and my mom asked me, " What's that?" I looked and there was a huge gross sore on her side. So I take her back to the Vet the next day and they think the clippers burned her when they were shaving her hair off to spay her. I had not know it was there and that she could reach the sore with her back feet and had made it pretty bad. So now not only does she have to wear a cone on her head I also have to bandage up her sore. If you even go near the sore with neosporin or anything she just cries. So I have to hold her down to take care of it. I am glad to say she is up and playing around and seems to be feeling better. So as hard as my Hysterectomy was I am grateful that: 1. I did not have to wear a cone and 2. That my feet didn't reach my gut because I probably would have been scratching and bugging my incision also.

Our New Addition

This last week we had a new addition to our family. His name is Rudy. We found him through the Chihuahua Rescue program. His is such a sweet little guy. We are hoping he will be a good friend for Bella. She has become a little too possessive and serious. So far he has her playing and not being the boss anymore. She follows his lead and enjoys spending time with him. He is a year and a half old. He has one leg that he cannot use. So he walks on three legs. He can run, jump, and do anything else a regular dog can do. His only problem with me is he is not potty trained. I thought he was because he was living with a foster family for the last while and the lady said she never had a problem with it. We are diligently working on that. It's no fun to wake up in the middle of the night to diarrhea all over the house. One night of that and I learned my lesson. He is now sleeping in his crate until he masters potty training. He is still spraying in the house and yard even though he is neutered. I am hoping that is just because Bella's scent is everywhere. He just takes careful watching, but is worth the trouble.

Pushy People!!!!

*I was told I was too harsh in my original blog so I revised it the best I could while still getting my feelings across. I don't tolerate pushy people. I am all for serving, visiting, and helping other people. But right now in my life my children, my family and me come first. It has taken me many years to be able to say no to people. I try to be kind when I do it, but if I continue to get badgered or pushed in a corner I guarantee I will push back. I know the Gospel is true, but it's dealing with the people in the Church that is so annoying. I feel like the members of the Church get lost and left behind sometimes because we are so focused on the "Inactives" and "non-members". Well sometimes the 99 need help too. If we help the 99 think how many 1's we will be able to find and help.

Movie Review

I have two movie reviews for you today. The first movie up is.... Bride Wars. I had really high hopes for this one. I have to say that it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. I think if they had not built this movie up so much it would have been better. From all the previews it seems like it would be really great. I am still glad that I saw it but I won't be buying it. The second movie up is... Mall Cop. I took Jarom and Addison to see this today and I was really looking forward to seeing it. Well I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. I laughed out loud many many times. The kids liked it also. Keep in mind that I absolutely love Napoleon Dynamite, Church ball, The Hometeachers and all those other cheesy but goody movies. I don't think you can go wrong watching this movie. And I will be buying this one. Enjoy!!!!

So Addicted

Is anyone else addicted to ... Cutest Blog on the Block? I was so sad when their site wasn't working. It still doesn't work all the time, so when it does I have to try new backgrounds out. I can have as many as 3 different ones in one day. Some people move their furniture around (I'm too lazy to do that), some people go shoe shopping (my feet are too Ginormous to do that), and some people go clothes shopping (my body is too fat and my wallet too skinny to do much of that). So I get my kicks out of changing the background and colors on my blog. I get to sit around on my booty, eat ice cream if I want too, pay zero moolah, and make my blog pretty. Can you beat that?!?

They're Back!!!!

I had thought that since I hadn't seen any for a month they were all gone. I had hoped they had picked somewhere else to live. I wouldn't miss them. I didn't miss them. Well I guess they missed us. Jeesh a little warm weather and they come running back. Just one more reason to get on top of my organizing and cleaning. Because you never know when they will pop by and if all the clutter is put away they have no where to hide. The unwanted pet ~ Roaches. This time I am going to have Clint call City of Mesa to hopefully come out and spray the manholes. They are the BIG sewer roaches, but so far the city wouldn't do anything when I called. I guess call the bug guy is back on my TO DO list. But why oh why pick us!!!!

Yuck!!!!!!!

Is Sunday a Hard day for anyone else? We all finally made it to Sacrament meeting after months of being home with Addison. I was hoping for the whole church experience but Sacrament meeting was as long as the kids lasted. Addison's tummy hurt and Jarom has these horrible planter warts on the bottom of both feet. I have put off taking him to the Dr. because it seemed like I just could never find the time. Needless to say we are going on Friday. Hopefully the Dr. will be able to help him out because he can hardly walk on them for any long amount of time. ANYWAY, yesterday was my mom's birthday and my sister planned a surprise b-day party at her house for mom. Every one came and we had a great time. Until... Jarom had a teenager moment and we decided we better head home. So after sending Jarom to bed when we got home and everyone had finally calmed down Clint, Addison, and I sat down to watch Happy Feet. I had gotten myself a big glass of ice water, YUM, and was watching the movie. Bella loves to sit on the back of my neck when I am on the couch. OK no big deal until... She started hacking and coughing. And out comes a little BB (one that goes in a Air Soft Gun- Jarom has them all over his game room). I didn't see where it went but because we are talking about my luck here I figured it went into my Ice water that was sitting on my lap. Clint and Addison both said ,"NO it rolled down onto the floor". OK whatever. Later after I had finally gotten everyone, but Bella (she is worse than a kid trying to get her to go to bed), and was reading a book and finishing up my ice water, I got to the end of my water and was crunching on my ice when guess what I found? The stinkin BB Bella had hacked up earlier. Sure enough it had rolled down right into my water cup. Ain't life grand!!!

Movie Review

Just a couple movie reviews. I have not had much time lately to see many movies so one is from when I took my kids and one is from Addison. The kids and I went to see Bedtime Stories. SIGH!!!! I thought is was cute, but was pretty disappointed. I had high hopes that it would be hysterical~ Adam Sandler and all. I think that if you see the previews on T.V. you have definitely seen the best and funniest parts of the whole movie. The second movie, I dropped Addison and 2 of her friends off to see Bride Wars. They all ranted and raved about it. They absolutely loved it. I hope to see it sometime next week and will write my thoughts on it then.

She Did It!!!!!!

She did it!!! Addison went to school today. It is her first day back in months. We met yesterday with her teachers and counselor. We were able to get her 504 all set up. She is going to her 4 basic classes. Math, Science, Social Studies, and English. She is staying for lunch as well, as her Dr. felt it was good for her to be there to socialize during lunchtime with her friends. I was a little bit worried if she would make it to school today because she had a really bad night last night. But she woke up this morning ready to go to school. She has missed being well enough to go to school and visit with her friends. I am so proud of her as this is a very big step for her. Hopefully it will continue for weeks to come!!!

Have to Post!!!

Nothing has changed much since I last posted a week ago, but I can not stand to see my blog slipping farther and farther down the list of most recently updated blogs. School has started again. Addison is STILL home. Her Homeopathic Dr. had us start a new diet. It is extremely hard and time consuming but we are hopeful that it will start to help Addison feel better. Jarom is being a trooper through all of this. He gives me the time I need to spend with Addison with out any complaint. He is such a good kid. We meet back again tomorrow morning with all of Addison's teachers and her counselor at school. We are going to try to find a schedule that will at least allow Addison a shorter school day. We are still trying to get the 504 in place for her too. So hopefully everything will become "Legal" and we will have more options for her. I am still trying to find the time to get all the Christmas buckets put away. My house is a wreck and I still have not gotten my Christmas cards out yet. They will get out, I am just not sure what month.