So Last Month

I know what you're thinking..."Krista, that was SOOOO last month!"

Yeah, but I'm just cool like that. And it is before Thanksgiving, so I decided I met and even exceeded my goal. Overachiever. I know.

Halloween was fun. Yet I don't really remember everything we did. Just that it was a whole lot of fun! We did the matching Halloween pajamas thing, but I don't have a picture of them together. :)

We had a meeting every Wednesday evening in October, so we would always hit Krispy Kreme Family Night on the way home. Fun free craft, free balloons and hats, and they give you free donuts to dip in chocolate and sprinkles. Very fun. And free. Did I mention that part?


We of course made Halloween sugar cookies and cupcakes for friends.




And of course ate one or two of said cupcakes and cookies:



This year Carson was a very cute superman




He was spotted flying all over town:



Short, but very cute. Just like Carson. :)



Caleb was Batman:



Chris and I? Well, we had big plans to have fun costumes. But we just never had time to make it happen. I think this is the first year we did not dress up. Bummer! Life is just too busy. I'll post more about that soon!

We went to a pumpkin painting party, had a Halloween Joy School party at our house, hit the church Halloween party and trunk or treat and also organized a trick or treat with about 25 families from church for Friday night. The boys LOVED it!!

(Cute ghost on your door, by the way, guys! :)

I thought that perhaps the sorting of the candy ritual was a learned thing passed from one generation to the next. But alas, it must be the natural cycle of life. It was the first thing Caleb did when he got home without any prompting from us. Not bad loot for just visiting a few houses on Friday night, huh?!?

(That pile of snickers, twix and 3 musketeers? That was the "I don't like it--it's for mom and dad pile." We made the sacrifice and took care of it for him.

Another fun holiday. Love them! So excited for some more!!!

Got the Fever

Phew. 7 posts in one night. (Just for you Chattertons! :) Jk. But your note to Chris on FB was timely since I had started all these updates this afternoon! :)

My boys seriously make me laugh.

The other night as we were heading into a restaurant, I turned around in the parking lot to see why Caleb was going so slow:

Funny kid.

At Wendy's Carson just couldn't help himself. He apparently like the music:

Carson. Already wearing his pants drooping.



My all time favorite dance--I call it the "Na na na na na na Dance." I'd like to thank my brother Kerry for teaching Caleb it a couple years ago. When we were visiting them in Washington, we were in two different cars driving home to their house. The car we were in got there first and Kerry taught Caleb how to turn around in the driveway, bend over, and stick his bum out, and say, "Na na na na na!" I don't know if he realizes what a positive and lasting impact he has had on Caleb.

Caleb does it all the time! Imagine my hysterical laughter when I realized that Carson has now perfected it too!




And while I was cleaning up the table at yet another restaurant, Chris took the boys outside. They decided that I (and all the other patrons around) needed to be entertained: (Highlights include more "na na na na na na dancing" and Carson's superman flying.) I was filming from inside the restaurant.


Never a dull moment. Just the way we like it.

Brothers Gotta Hug

Brothers are silly together:



Brothers share everything:

(including suckers)


Brothers spend lots of time together:




Brothers hold hands:



Brothers read together:





Brothers differ in the things they like:

(Caleb loves animals)


(Carson could care less about feeding the animals--just point me to a good mud puddle!)


Brothers watch football together:



Brothers enjoy nature and taking walks together:





Brothers play together:




Brothers imitate each other:



Brothers work together:



Brothers teach each other:



Brothers just love to be together:



Brothers Gotta Hug (to quote the astute Chris Farley)

(Carson fell and hurt himself and wanted Caleb to hold him on his lap. Ready? Collective "Aweeeeee!")

Block Party

We were in charge of our neighborhood block party for National Night Out which we held in the street right in front of our house.

The boys had a blast!! They especially enjoyed the bounce house, food, police car, and the two fire trucks!




This fireman was so nice to play checkers with Caleb!!


A good time (hopefully) had by all. It's always nice to get to know neighbors and spend some time with them.

Thomas

A few weekends ago we went to the Day Out with Thomas.

The boys had so much fun! They actually got to RIDE on a real train. They were soooo excited!!





They also had a bounce house train thingy:

Pretty sure Caleb only ran through it 206 times.

They had a miniature golf course. Food. Magicians. Musicians. And Caleb's favorite--a rock climbing wall:

I was surprised at how much Caleb loved this! We will definitely have to find one locally that we can take him too.

Perhaps Chris enjoyed it too. :)



Good times. Good memories. Good company! (Thanks, Cheneys!)

Utah Trip

We were able to go on a quick trip to Utah to attend the funeral of Chris's Nana.

Carson LOVED the flight. For the full first hour on the airplane, all that was heard was, "AIRPLANE! AIRPLANE! AIRPLANE!" Cute and funny to his parents. Maybe not to the people around us. But probably better than crying, right?!?

We were able to stay at a 12 bedroom cabin at Bear Lake with all of Chris's siblings and families and parents and even some extended family. We had so much fun spending time with family and want to thank everyone for their hard work in making this such a fun time together. Thank you for driving so far, for letting us crash with you, all the meals, etc. etc. etc. We have truly been blessed with good families!

The memorial service was very nice. Chris was honored to be able to play a violin piece with our niece at the memorial service that was beautiful! He also did a great job speaking at the service and singing a hymn with his siblings.

Utah is a truly beautiful place. I forget just how beautiful in between times.






(While in Utah, one of my favorite parts is to take the boys to the place where my mom is buried and spend some time with Grandma Kathryn too. :)

We are so thankful, despite the circumstances, that we were able to go and spend time with family and be there for the funeral. Unfortunately, it was such a quick and busy trip, we missed seeing many of our friends. Hopefully we will be able to go again soon and spend time with all of you! But meanwhile, you are also always welcome to come see us in Texas. :) (Counting down you know who that is coming on a surprise trip, Sandie, Kaylyn, Kip, Bridget, and Elliott!!)

Nana

As I mentioned in my last post, Chris's grandmother (Nana) and uncle passed away on the same day in two different states.

I'm so glad we have been able to visit with Nana a few times in the last few years and let our boys meet her and take pictures with her.





We were lucky enough to be able to attend her funeral in Utah. More about that in another post. While Nana will surely be missed, we are happy for her to be reunited with her husband who passed away 43 years before her, her daughter that died very young, and her son that passed away just hours after her. What a sweet reunion I'm sure that was!!

As I've had cause to contemplate life and death and the purpose of life...it has reminded me of one of my secret pet peeves. :) And since you asked...haha...here you go! Secretly, it drives me nuts when people complain about their parents. If only they knew how much some of us would give to have our parents alive and "bugging" us. :) Just hug and kiss your parents and tell them how much you love them! I don't care who you are and what the circumstances! You will miss them when they are gone!

Hero

(Chris holding Caleb when he was a baby, Chris's dad, Chris's Uncle Rod)

One of Chris's heroes passed away a couple weeks ago. His Uncle Rod died very unexpectedly in a kayaking accident at a young 50 years old. (see the news story here). He died in Austin, just hours after Chris's grandmother (Nana--also his uncle Rod's mother) passed away in California (more on that soon.) What a day for the Dial extended family.

Chris has always looked up to his Uncle Rod...as a father figure, a mentor, a church member, an entrepreneur, a businessman...the list goes on and on....

We are so happy for the time we've been able to live fairly close to them and visit them while living in San Antonio--a short hour and a half drive away from Austin. How we will treasure our memories of him and the example he set for our family.

The funeral was beautiful. And just packed with people whose lives, as our lives, were influenced so much for good.

His passing and funeral brought back waves of emotions and memories for me. I couldn't help watching his sweet kids and mourning for them. For the heartache that I know is theirs now and the heartaches that will come and go for years to come. I mourned for all the missed future life events--weddings and baptisms and missions for the church and births of their children--his grandchildren. My heart aches for them because my heart has ached for my own mom who died when I was 9 years old. And yet...I know they'll be ok. Because I'm ok. I know that their dad will still be a part of their lives, because my mom is still a part of mine. I will see my mom again...as I know they know they will see their dad again.

Another good reminder about how short life is. How we need to make the most of it and not sweat the small things.

Day #9

See my cute boys?

(As a totally random aside--dang! Can't believe how much that power washing helped our sidewalks, porch and driveway! Looks so dirty in this picture! Good job scouts!)

They have no health insurance. And that scares me. A lot.

Today is day #9 with no health insurance.

We've had recent reminders of the importance of health insurance. Remember that meningitis bit? Expensive! If it had been without insurance? Dang. And our last weekend with insurance, we decided we should take advantage of it one last time with a trip to the ER. Chris sliced his hand open and we ran to the ER to have them fix it up. Can't imagine without insurance how fun it would have been. We may soon find out! :)

Chris has his own company. Which is great!!! We have learned soooo much this last year and he is doing awesome! And he has so many irons in the fire he's not sure which to pull out first! Great, right?

BUT! Health insurance is a major issue for us.

I admit--I used to be a bit judgmental on this topic. I'd hear about health insurance issues and think...well, go get health insurance then!

That was then. When I had health insurance.

We have been on COBRA up until now because we have been unsuccessful in buying private health insurance. We keep being denied because of various pre-existing health conditions. Supposedly this health reform bill was supposed to make it so they couldn't do that. But apparently Texas is fighting it...which translates into...us fighting it too.

We've looked into CHIPS at least for the kids. We do not qualify because Chris makes too much.

So, as far as I can tell, that leaves us with the following options:
1. Have no health insurance
2. Chris works for somebody else instead of himself so that we can get health insurance
3. Krista goes back to work--just for the insurance
4. Earn significantly less money so we can qualify for medicaid or CHIPS or something

I choose none of the above. At least I wish I could choose none of the above.

I've asked every doctor, nurse, receptionist, insurance salesmen, friend, neighbor. Anyone I can think of to see if they know of any other options. I've turned up nothing.

Krista's commentary? Sad that small businesses and people working for themselves are forced back into working for someone else if they want to have health insurance. Sad for sure.

Meanwhile, since we are a business, we pay double for medicaid and medicare and such. We pay the company portion and our individual portion. Nice that I can pay double every month for insurance for somebody else, but no one will allow me to even purchase it for myself! I'm WILLING and ABLE to pay for my own insurance! BUT NO ONE WILL LET US! Messed up system. (Disclaimer: Ok...last time I mentioned this, I was teased about mentioning medicaid and medicare. I have absolutely nothing against these programs...nor anyone that has ever used them. Just frustrated that I have zero good options and that I am forced to pay for the programs when no one will give me an opportunity to pay for my own. Selfish? Yes. I know. Sorry!)

So for now, I guess we will just pray for no major health issues and brush up on our negotiation skills if we do. :)

P.S. Even with private health insurance...seems like none of them have maternity coverage--anyone out there with private insurance--how do you go about that? Just save your money and pay for it outright? Not an announcement by any means--just curious for future reference! :)