Claire

Claire is so funny. She is always so happy to see Matt and I whenever we come over. Matt and I babysat a couple weeks ago and Claire wrote this little note for us:

Can you read it? This is the type of writing that only moms and teachers know how to read. Translation: "I love you Tori. Tori I am happy you came to babysit us." I figured it out and gave it to Matt to read. He took one look at it and asked for me to read it to him. Haha!

How to meet your neighbors in Logan:

Step 1: Buy a snow shovel

Step 2: Shovel your driveway after you get 9-12 inches of snow in a few hours

Step 3: Help push other people's cars to their houses when they get stuck in the unplowed street

Step 4: Help everyone shovel their driveways! In no time three or four people will all be helping shovel the same driveway and you get to know your neighbors at the same time!

When you have this much snow, shoveling goes a lot faster when there are a few people helping!

Notice that you cannot even see our front door because the snow mountain is so high!

Kendra's Baby Shower!

Last weekend all the Fischer women got together to host a baby shower for Kendra! Baby girl Kailee is coming the first week of March and we all pooled our talents to put together a shower for the family and neighborhood friends.

We had so much fun planning and decorating! Kendra's nursery is decorated with purple and zebra, so we decided to match the shower to the nursery. Kamie and Jenny put together a hot chocolate bar with some yummy snacks for the guests. Since I basically have no skills when it comes to food (seriously, none), I was in charge of making the invitations and some little details to decorate.

I made this picture frame for Kendra to put in the baby's nursery and to use as a decoration for the shower.

I made these little snowflakes on toothpicks for the snacks. They turned out cute!

I also made these wood letters for Kailee's nursery. Kendra has been calling Kailee "Miss K" since they chose her name, and we all love the nickname. I thought it would be cute to have her nickname in her room too!

I made this banner that said, "Baby it's cold outside," which was the theme of the shower. January showers are always so cold, but the hot chocolate was a hit!

All the Fischer women! We took a picture like this at Kendra's wedding shower and it is crazy to think how fast time flies! Since then, Kendra and Lance are married and having a baby, Matt and I are married, Kamie and Tim have a 1-year old, and Jenny and Randy have had their third baby, who is also 1!

Cute Reagan was so fun to play with all day! I'm pretty sure every guest had her in their arms at one point or another during the shower.

After the shower, and after the boys got home from ice fishing, we all went out to lunch. Harrison loved dipping his fry in the ranch, and had sauce all over his face! It was too cute! I'm not sure why he is examining his fry like this, but we were all laughing!

We can't wait for Lance and Kendra's little girl to join our family! We are so excited!

One Year Later

One year ago, I had brain surgery and was diagnosed with MS. I can't believe that it has been a year. That was probably the fastest year of my life. A lot of things in our lives changed because of my diagnosis. Matt and I had to learn the hard way about being prepared for emergency medical expenses as we learned how expensive it is to go to the doctor, have multiple MRIs, have brain surgery, spend the night in the ICU, and all the many, many follow-up doctor's visits.

MS changed the way I deal with stress. Matt and I both were too stressed out in our old jobs and decided to get new jobs. I interviewed for all kinds of jobs in Salt Lake, and felt that Logan was the right place to go. I immediately got a job in Cache Valley, and we started looking for an apartment. After a long day of looking at apartments, we decided to look at KSL one more time and it just happened that a new apartment had been posted. We called, checked it out, and found the perfect place. We love where we live. We moved all our stuff to the new apartment before school was even over, and we lived at Matt's parents' house for a couple weeks until I was done with work.

Matt's job fell into his lap when we got up to Logan, and he loves it more every day (especially on days that the temperature is not below zero). It will be a challenge to get him back in school because he hates school and loves to work! I love my new job also. It is so refreshing to work somewhere where people actually care about their kids' education and recognize how hard I am working and actually appreciate what I am doing for their kids. I enjoy going to work every day.

We get to spend more and more time with some of our nieces and nephews, as well as Randy and Jenny. It is so fun to be so close to family and get to watch the kids grow. We are excited for Tim and Kamie and Reagan to move closer to us. I wish everyone we knew lived in Logan, but we also appreciate the time we spend with other family members more because we don't see everyone as often.

As far as the MS goes, nothing has really changed. I am still numb on my right side, mostly in my foot and leg, with no end in sight. I have gotten really good at giving myself my shot, and balancing the corresponding meds so I'm not too sick. We have just made the transition to my new health insurance (which has been a nightmare getting started, but will be an INCREDIBLE blessing). Due to my meds, I will hit my out-of-pocket deductible every year within a couple months as long as I am on my medicine (which is planned for the rest of my life, or until something better comes out). The best part is that I do not have to pay for this medicine due to our meager income. I guess some advantages do come from not having any money. Very few people know about my MS, and it has been nice not being treated any differently from anyone else. While I appreciated everyone's help when I had my surgery and was diagnosed, I just want to be treated the same as if I didn't have a chronic disease, and I get to do that now. 

I can't even think of anything bad that we have experienced since we moved here. We definitely have received more than our share of blessings and happiness. We look forward to more happiness in 2013.

Happenings in the Fischer House

Recent events in our house:

1. In the middle of the night, the smoke alarm in our room started beeping. Immediately my mind starting thinking about the episode of "Friends" when the exact same thing happens to Phoebe. I'm laying in bed, listening to the beeping, thinking about "Friends." Finally, Matt wakes up. He pulls the smoke alarm off the ceiling, disconnecting the alarm. About five seconds later, it continues beeping. Matt looks at me and I start laughing. I ask, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Matt says, "Yes. Friends." He pops the battery out, and the battery continues beeping. Matt swears at the smoke alarm and takes it downstairs and puts it on the couch under a blanket. Problem solving in the middle of the night does not always yield the best solutions.

2. Matt and Randy have been watching a lot of Jazz games together. Being loving wives, Jenny and I also watch the Jazz games with the boys. I'm not sure why we continue to do this. After a couple of games, we only hear the same few comments during each game:

• Why is Al in the game?
• The starters suck!
• Take him out!
• I could coach the Jazz!
• Brad's basketball team is better than the Jazz!
• What the hell is he doing?!
• (I think you all catch my drift)

This used to be how Matt watched the Jazz with his dad and Tim. Funny how the Fischers all have the same opinions on the Jazz.

3. Matt and I both hate doing chores. My least favorite job is doing laundry. It never seems to end. My job is to fold the laundry, and put my own clothes away (Matt refuses to help with any of my clothes because he says I have too many clothes). Matt's job is to mate the socks and put his own clothes away. Well, today I started more laundry and I find the basket of socks that Matt is supposed to mate. From several weeks ago. Our huge laundry basket is almost full of socks. We have been pulling socks out of this basket for probably a month. And now that I have started laundry again, the basket of socks is getting more full and Matt has not mated any of the socks. I am looking forward to seeing how long it takes Matt to mate that huge basket of socks.