November was a ROUGH month!

November started off like any other month.  But on Sunday, Nov. 4th, Max said that he was feeling really sick.  We had stake music practice that night and Max was suppose to go and sing in the children's choir but I had a strong feeling to have him stay home.  Well, glad I heeded that prompting because he began throwing up immediately after I pulled out the garage that night.  Good ol' dad was here to take care of (and clean up after) our poor sick son.  Well, I kept him home from school on Monday, Nov. 5th.  I was NOT feeling good by Monday night and woke up about 2 am to run to the bathroom and throw up.  I haven't thrown up in over 10 years!  I definitely don't throw up often so it's very traumatic for me when I do.  So that was the most sick I have been in 10 years!  On Tuesday morning, Nov. 6th, Max was back to school along with Ethan and Tatum.  Carlie and I stayed home feeling HORRIBLE!  But it was November 6th and I HAD to go and vote.  So I told Carlie, "Hey, come with me to go vote and then we will go get big Sprites from Circle K."  I was in and out of the polls within 5 minutes and I came out to discover Carlie throwing up in a garbage can outside--THANK YOU Carlie for NOT doing that in our car:)  So from there we were en route to Circle K when I got a call from my kid's school informing me that Ethan was now throwing up at school.  SERIOUSLY?!  So we went and got poor Ethan--I called down to check on Tatum because I just knew she would be next but she was fine (and she stayed fine--the ONLY one not to get this horrible flu).  So Carlie, Ethan, and I got our Sprites and headed home.  Chris came home about 2 that afternoon because he was sick too!  So we were all laying there on the couch the sickest we've been in years, watching Mitt Romney loose the election, and the to top it all off....we got a call telling us that Chris' dad had passed away an hour earlier.  SERIOUSLY?!?!  What the HECK happened today?!?!

Well, we were all better and back to normal by Wednesday, Nov. 7th.  Tatum remained healthy thru it all.  It was a fast and furious stomach flu for sure--knocked out 5 of us in 3 days--and we are so glad to be past it.  Chris' dad.....now that is a TON more complicated.  My husband's parents were divorced when he was very young.  His dad is....complicated.  Fred had a serious prescription drug abuse problem for the past 10 years.  About 3 years ago, we had to ask them to NOT stay at our home anymore because his drug abuse affected every aspect of his life.  We could no longer allow our children to be around him because it was seriously dangerous to do so.  And over the last 3 years, Fred's health seriously declined as he could not get on top of his addictions.  He passed away Tuesday, November 6th--he was 61 years old.  Chris mourned the loss of his dad years ago and my kids never really knew him but we did pay our last respects at his funeral the next week.

I am grateful for Fred.  My husband joined the church and went on a mission because of his dad and I will be eternally grateful for that.